Battery Regulation Countdown: The Real Risk for POS Terminals Isn't Replacing the Battery — It's Being Cut Off.

Regulatory Countdown: The "Compliance Window" for POS Terminals

 

The EU's New Battery Regulation (EU 2023/1542) entered into force on August 17, 2023. Article 11 stipulates that, starting February 18, 2027, batteries in portable devices must, in principle, be "easily removable and replaceable" by the end-user. POS terminals, which contain built-in lithium batteries, fall under the category of portable batteries and are not currently among the explicitly exempted product categories published by the EU.

However, POS terminals face a stricter constraint: the PCI PTS POI standard requires tamper-detection circuits to remain continuously active. If an abnormal power supply is misinterpreted as a security breach, the security chip immediately erases the encryption keys, instantly rendering the device inoperable ("bricking" it). Based on this requirement, the industry has argued to the European Commission that POS terminals—which require continuous power to ensure transaction data integrity and tamper-proof security—should qualify for a full exemption under Article 11, Paragraph 3.

Regardless of whether an exemption is ultimately granted, one unavoidable issue remains: while the main battery may be replaced, age, or disconnect, the POS terminal's security module cannot lose power.

 

Why LIC? POS Terminals Need a "Power-Loss Buffer"

 

Regardless of whether POS terminals ultimately secure an exemption from the battery regulation, a rigid constraint persists: the main battery may lose power, but the security module cannot.

The main battery can disconnect due to aging, malfunction, professional maintenance, or accidental detachment; backup batteries are similarly prone to aging, poor contact, and voltage drops during switching. Meanwhile, the PCI PTS POI standard mandates that tamper-detection circuits remain continuously active; if a power anomaly is misinterpreted as an intrusion, the security chip immediately erases the keys, instantly bricking the device.

Traditional solutions use high-capacity lithium batteries as buffers, but these have short cycle lives (typically 500–1,000 cycles), requiring replacement after just two or three years of daily charging and discharging. Their performance plummets in low temperatures—causing POS terminals used outdoors in northern winters to fail—and long-term trickle charging accelerates aging. Consequently, they cannot meet the maintenance-free requirements spanning the POS terminal's entire lifecycle. The answer is the LIC (Lithium-Ion Capacitor)—a power backup solution specifically designed to ensure that safety modules never lose power.

As a hybrid supercapacitor, the LIC combines high energy density, high power density, and a long cycle life. Its 3.8V single-cell voltage allows for a streamlined design, while a lifespan of 500,000 cycles matches that of the device itself, eliminating the need for replacement. It operates reliably across a wide temperature range (-40°C to +85°C), maintaining performance even in cold environments, and offers millisecond-level response times to take over the power supply the instant the main battery fails.