How to Build a Battery Passport App like Circularise

The world of battery manufacturing and management is changing quickly. With the EU Battery Regulation about to require digital battery passports, companies across the supply chain must change how they manage compliance, sustainability, and transparency. This is why many businesses have started using battery passport apps. This digital tool gives each battery a clear identity. It tracks everything from raw material sourcing and carbon footprint to performance metrics and recycling options at the end of its life.

This regulatory change is more than a compliance requirement. It offers new business opportunities for electric vehicle manufacturers and energy storage companies. By adopting these systems early, businesses can meet regulatory standards and position themselves as leaders in the circular economy.

We’ve worked closely with numerous digital product passports and EV ecosystems, and we know where the real opportunities emerge. IdeaUsher understands how embedding carbon footprint tracking, material provenance, and recycling workflows can turn compliance into an advantage. This blog is our way of passing on valuable information to help you get started on your own battery passport platform.

Key Market Takeaways for Battery Passport Apps

According to MarketsandMarkets, the battery passport market is set for strong growth, projected to rise from USD 54.3 million in 2025 to USD 326.9 million by 2032, reflecting a CAGR of 29.2%. This expansion is being fueled by the rising demand for batteries in EVs, consumer electronics, and energy storage systems, coupled with regulations that demand full transparency. 

Source: MarketsandMarkets

Battery passport apps are emerging as the key tool, creating digital records that track a battery’s origin, technical details, and environmental footprint, ensuring both companies and regulators can trust data.

What sets these platforms apart is their ability to connect the entire supply chain. Automakers, material suppliers, and recyclers can all access the same verified data, which helps ensure compliance while improving traceability and enabling second-life use cases. With the EU Battery Regulation mandating digital passports, adoption is moving quickly in Europe and expanding to other regions. 

For many companies, these tools are not just about meeting legal obligations but also about building credibility in sustainability-focused markets.

Initiatives like the EU’s Battery Pass consortium and BATRAW project are setting standards and running pilot programs that bring consistency and reliability to the sector. Together, these efforts are shaping a more transparent and sustainable future for the battery industry.

Understanding Digital Product Passports

If you’ve been exploring Battery Passports, you’ve likely come across the term “Digital Product Passport”. It’s crucial to understand the DPP to fully appreciate why the Battery Passport isn’t just a standalone tool, but a catalyst for a global shift in how we design, sell, and manage products.

A DPP is a comprehensive digital record that holds essential information about a product’s sustainability and lifecycle. 

It’s at the heart of the European Union’s Green Deal and the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation or ESPR. The primary objectives of a DPP are to:

• Empower Consumers: Allow customers to make informed, sustainable choices.
• Drive Circularity: Facilitate repair, recycling, and reuse by sharing key product data with the right stakeholders.
• Enhance Transparency: Hold manufacturers accountable for their environmental claims.

The DPP is easily accessible through a QR code or other digital identifiers, revealing different layers of information depending on the audience, basic details for consumers and technical data for recyclers or regulatory bodies.

How Does the DPP Relate to a Battery Passport?

The connection is direct and vital. The Battery Passport is the first practical and legally mandated application of the DPP concept.

Under the EU Battery Regulation, which requires battery passports for electric vehicle batteries, industrial batteries, and lightweight mobility batteries by 2027, the Battery Passport is leading the charge in bringing DPPs to life. Here’s how they align:

1. The Battery Passport as a Blueprint for Future DPPs

The standards, rules, and technologies being developed for battery passports are setting the stage for how DPPs will be implemented across other product categories, such as textiles, electronics, and plastics. By developing a battery passport app, businesses are essentially adopting a sophisticated DPP ahead of the curve.

2. Shared Core Principles

Both DPPs and Battery Passports are built on three foundational ideas:

• Data-Driven Transparency: Moving away from vague marketing claims to verifiable, trustworthy data.
• Lifecycle Perspective: Tracking products from raw material to end-of-life, ensuring transparency at every stage.
• Interoperability: Using common data standards to share information seamlessly across borders and systems.

3. A Unified Compliance Strategy

For businesses in the battery value chain, investing in a battery passport app isn’t just about complying with a single regulation. It’s about laying the groundwork for a scalable digital system that will make it easier to meet the emerging wave of DPP regulations across all product categories.

What is a Battery Passport App? 

A battery passport app is a digital record that tracks every step of a battery’s life, from raw material sourcing to recycling. It gives you a clear view of its origin, performance, carbon footprint, and recycling potential. Think of it as a digital ID that ensures transparency and sustainability at every stage. Here’s a breakdown of the essential data it tracks:

• Origin & Provenance: The ability to trace the journey of critical raw materials (like lithium, cobalt, and nickel) back to their source, including insights into the mining practices used. This ensures the ethical and sustainable sourcing of materials.
• Material Composition: Detailed information about the battery’s chemical makeup, including the proportion of recycled content, helping to understand its environmental footprint.
• Carbon Footprint: An assessment of the total greenhouse gas emissions generated during the battery’s production, giving users visibility into its environmental impact.
• Performance & Durability: Metrics like capacity, expected lifespan, and safety test results that demonstrate the quality and longevity of the battery, helping users make informed decisions.
• Recycling Potential & Instructions: Clear information on how the battery can be safely dismantled, its material recovery potential, and direct access to certified recyclers, ensuring responsible end-of-life management.

Types of Battery Passport Solutions

Not all battery passports are created equal. Companies can adopt different models depending on whether they aim for basic compliance, deep operational integration, or collaborative ecosystem leadership.

Type	Purpose	How It Works	Best For
Compliance-Focused Platforms	Meet the letter of the law with minimal overhead.	Centralized databases where companies upload data for regulatory reporting.	Small and mid-sized businesses seeking a minimal viable compliance tool
Enterprise-Integrated Platforms	Embed traceability into the core of operations.	Direct integration with ERP, PLM, and MES systems to automate data flow.	Large OEMs and battery manufacturers using compliance as a strategic tool
Open-Protocol Ecosystems (e.g., Circularise)	Foster cross-industry collaboration and data trust.	Built on decentralized infrastructure (often blockchain) with cryptographic protections (decentralization, ZKPs, interoperability).	Industry leaders aiming to set sustainability standards and drive systemic change

How Does the Circularise App Work?

The Circularise app reimagines supply chain transparency. Instead of relying on a single company to own and control data, it provides a decentralized protocol that enables secure, verifiable data exchange across entire industries. Its strength lies in proving sustainability and compliance claims without forcing suppliers to reveal confidential business information.

Circularise is built on three core pillars:

1. Blockchain-Enabled, Decentralized Architecture

Traditional systems depend on centralized databases that create both a single point of failure and a single point of control. Circularise flips this model by using a public blockchain as its neutral backbone.

• How it works: The blockchain does not store sensitive data. Instead, it records cryptographic proofs and commitments—like a public notary stamping a document without knowing its content. For example, a supplier can prove they made a claim (such as recycled material content) without exposing their proprietary data.
• The benefit: Every participant gains access to a tamper-proof, auditable history. Trust is established through mathematics and cryptography, not through blind reliance on a central authority.

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2. Patented “Smart Questioning” for Data Confidentiality

The Smart Questioning system is Circularise’s breakthrough innovation. It uses Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) to let companies answer specific sustainability questions without exposing sensitive information.

How it works:

• A supplier commits to their data by placing a cryptographic hash of it on the blockchain.
• A buyer (like an OEM) asks a targeted question—for example: “Does this product contain at least 20% recycled cobalt?”
• Instead of revealing raw data, the supplier generates a small cryptographic proof that verifies the claim as true or false.
• The blockchain validates this proof, giving the buyer certainty that the claim is correct, without learning anything else.

This resolves the core tension of transparency. Suppliers keep control of their IP, recipes, or costs, while customers get trustworthy, verifiable answers for compliance and ESG reporting.

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3. Empowering Supplier Participation and Middle-Party Protection

Most of the valuable data in a supply chain resides with suppliers deep upstream—the miners, processors, and component manufacturers. These actors are often the most reluctant to share data. Circularise is built to protect and empower them.

How it works

Suppliers decide what to reveal and what to keep private. Instead of raw data moving through the chain, verified proofs cascade downstream. For instance, a battery maker can collect verified claims from a cell supplier, who in turn aggregated proofs from a cathode producer, and so on, back to the mine.

The benefit

By protecting supplier confidentiality, Circularise removes the biggest barrier to adoption. Instead of a punitive model where suppliers feel forced to give up sensitive data, it creates a collaborative ecosystem where everyone can demonstrate sustainability credentials with confidence.

What is the Business Model of the Circularise App?

Circularise makes money mainly through software licensing fees for its traceability platform. Companies pay to use tools like digital product passports, AI-driven data collection from supplier documents, mass balance bookkeeping, and flexible data-sharing controls that let suppliers stay confidential while still proving compliance.

 The real value comes from helping businesses meet regulations, cut emissions, improve transparency, and even experiment with new circular economy models such as product-as-a-service.

Beyond licensing, Circularise also earns from strategic partnerships, consulting, and project-based implementations with major players like Porsche (automotive traceability) and Neste (circular polymers). 

This consulting-plus-software mix helps them expand into new sectors while aligning closely with ESG-driven investment priorities.

Financial Performance & Scale

• Annual revenue: approx. $10.5M.
• Revenue per employee: around $130K.
• Headcount: ~81 employees, with 37% growth in the past year, signaling rapid scaling.

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Funding & Investment

• Total raised: ~$13.18M across 12 rounds.
• Series A (Nov 2022): €11M (~$11.39M), led by Brightlands Venture Partners with Asahi Kasei, Neste, and 4impact Capital, plus EU grants.
• Series A-II (Dec 2024): amount undisclosed, but fueled growth.
• Strategic pre-Series B (late 2024): Teijin Group invested, paving the way for entry into high-performance materials and broader industrial markets.

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Business Impact

Circularise reduces supply chain complexity, risk, and costs by giving companies a secure way to map supply chains and automate compliance. Its platform supports mass balance and credit tracking, lowering regulatory headaches while opening financial benefits such as reduced capital costs and stronger ESG investor appeal. 

Global leaders in automotive, chemicals, and materials rely on Circularise to prove sustainability claims, gain market trust, and unlock new growth opportunities.

Benefits of Building a Battery Passport App

Building a battery passport app isn’t just about ticking off compliance boxes, it’s about giving your company a real edge. You get rock-solid, auditable records, the ability to share verified claims without exposing sensitive data, and seamless integration with the systems you already use.

Technical Advantages

1. Immutable records

By leveraging blockchain, a passport app creates a permanent, timestamped record of every material movement, providing a trusted source of truth for audits. This not only streamlines compliance checks but also protects against disputes, greenwashing claims, and the high costs of manual verification.

2. Confidential data-sharing

Using tools like Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), companies can verify critical claims—such as recycled content or carbon footprint—without suppliers revealing sensitive IP. This selective disclosure approach breaks down the barrier between transparency and confidentiality, unlocking data from deep within the supply chain.

3. Seamless integration

An API-first design allows a passport app to plug directly into ERP, PLM, and MES systems, pulling data automatically from its source. This eliminates error-prone manual entry, delivers real-time insights, and ensures traceability becomes an effortless part of day-to-day operations.

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Business Advantages

1. Proactive compliance

Instead of scrambling to meet new regulatory deadlines, a passport app positions your company ahead of the curve. It ensures readiness for the EU Battery Regulation today while preparing you for similar sustainability requirements emerging across global markets.

2. Building trust

A verifiable passport builds trust at every level—regulators get instant, audit-ready data, partners collaborate on proven claims, and consumers can scan a QR code to see the verified sustainability story behind a product, deepening loyalty and credibility.

3. Monetizing insights

The aggregated data behind the passport isn’t just for compliance—it can be transformed into value. Companies can provide suppliers with environmental performance analytics or sell anonymized market intelligence, creating new revenue streams from sustainability insights.

4. Competitive branding

In markets where sustainability is a differentiator, a passport provides the proof needed to credibly claim “carbon-neutral,” “conflict-free,” or “100% recyclable.” This strengthens brand reputation, appeals to ESG-minded investors, and helps win contracts from customers and governments prioritizing sustainability.

How to Build a Battery Passport App like Circularise?

We specialize in building digital product passports tailored to the battery industry. Drawing inspiration from proven approaches such as Circularise, we help clients implement end-to-end Battery Passport solutions that meet regulatory requirements, improve supply chain transparency, and unlock circular economy value. Here’s how we typically develop a battery passport app for our clients.

1. Map Data Flows

We start by mapping your supply chain to identify the critical data sources across mines, refiners, processors, manufacturers, and recyclers. Together with your team, we define the required data points such as carbon footprint, raw material composition, durability, and recycling metrics, ensuring that all stakeholders’ needs are captured from the beginning.

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2. Design Sharing Rules

Next, we design the data-sharing framework to balance transparency with confidentiality. Using methods like zero-knowledge proofs and selective disclosure, we enable your business to share only what’s necessary. We also establish access tiers for different users, whether public, regulators, or enterprise partners, so each group receives exactly the information they need.

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3. Build Core Layer

We then design the core technology layer by selecting the right blockchain protocol—public or permissioned, based on your ecosystem’s requirements. To ensure performance and trust, we build a hybrid architecture, combining centralized databases for speed with blockchain-backed records for immutability and traceability.

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4. Create APIs

To integrate seamlessly into your existing workflows, we develop interoperable APIs that connect with ERP, PLM, MES, and digital product passport standards. These APIs are built to be flexible, allowing your system to remain compliant and adaptable as regulations evolve in the EU and globally.

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5. Develop Interfaces

We deliver user-friendly interfaces customized for each stakeholder. OEMs and recyclers get advanced dashboards for operational insights, regulators access compliance views, and consumers interact through QR code–enabled public passports. This ensures every participant in your value chain benefits from the passport in a way that’s clear and actionable.

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6. Test & Validate

Finally, we run pilots across multiple supply chain tiers to validate performance, adoption, and compliance. Our process ensures your Battery Passport is fully aligned with frameworks like the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), the EU Battery Passport initiative, and the Battery Pass Project. This gives your organization confidence in both scalability and regulatory readiness.

How Suppliers Prove Sustainability Without Sharing Secrets?

The “Trust Machine” sounds amazing on paper. But let’s be honest, your suppliers aren’t about to hand over their proprietary formulas or cost data. Yet, you need to verify claims like, “this battery contains 25% recycled cobalt.” How can that even work without seeing the actual numbers? It seems impossible, but it isn’t.

You’ve just stumbled on the trust paradox. On one hand, businesses and regulators demand transparency. On the other hand, companies fiercely guard their sensitive data. Trade secrets, production methods, and material costs are the lifeblood of competitiveness. Asking suppliers to hand over everything isn’t just uncomfortable, it’s a dealbreaker.

This is where Zero-Knowledge Proofs or ZKPs transform the game. It’s not magic, it’s math. And it’s the engine that powers battery passport apps, allowing verification without exposure.

How This Works in Battery Supply Chains

Let’s understand this with an example. Your supplier claims their battery cells contain 25% recycled cobalt. That figure is sensitive intellectual property. You don’t want the full Bill of Materials exposed, yet you need proof.

Here’s how the battery passport app makes it work:

• The Question: The platform automatically asks, “Does Batch #XYZ contain at least 25% recycled cobalt by mass?”
• The Proof Generation: CellTech doesn’t send their BOM. Instead, their system runs the query locally on encrypted data and produces a cryptographic proof—a small digital receipt showing the answer is correct.
• The Verification: This proof is sent to the battery passport platform or a secure verification node. Regulators, auditors, or your compliance team can instantly check the proof using a public key. The answer is TRUE, and no sensitive information is exposed.

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Real-Time Updates: Keeping the Passport Alive

A battery passport isn’t just a static record. The real power comes when the passport evolves in real time. Battery Management Systems continuously track usage, health, and charge cycles. This data is securely streamed to the battery passport platform using lightweight IoT protocols like MQTT.

Each update is cryptographically verified before being recorded. This turns the passport into a dynamic digital twin, reflecting the battery’s current health, lifetime usage, and sustainability credentials.

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Granular Access: Only Share What’s Needed

Different stakeholders need different insights.

• Recyclers need the chemical composition to safely process materials.
• Mechanics need a health history for maintenance.
• Regulators need compliance and carbon footprint reports.

With Attribute-Based Access Control, powered by secure protocols like OAuth 2.0, the battery passport app ensures everyone sees exactly what they need—and nothing more. Your suppliers’ trade secrets remain fully protected.

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What You Gain vs. What They Keep

You Get:

• Cryptographically verified, tamper-proof proof of sustainability claims.
• Full confidence in regulatory compliance and brand reputation.
• Data-driven insights for lifecycle management and second-life applications.

They Keep:

• Their complete Bill of Materials.
• Supplier lists and manufacturing ratios.
• Proprietary chemical formulas and cost structures.

This isn’t a compromise; it’s a fundamental breakthrough that finally resolves the trust paradox.

Tools & APIs Needed to Build a Battery Passport App

To build a solid battery passport app, you’ll need a secure decentralized layer for trust, strong cryptographic tools to keep sensitive data private, and a reliable off-chain database for everything too heavy to live on-chain. You’ll also want flexible APIs that make it easy to plug into existing business systems and a modern frontend framework so people actually enjoy using it.

1. Blockchain Protocols – The Trust Layer

A Battery Passport’s value depends on trusted, tamper-proof records. Choosing the right blockchain protocol is foundational.

Option	Strengths	Trade-offs
Ethereum	Mature ecosystem, strong standards, widely supported for decentralized apps	High fees and slower speeds; needs Layer 2 for large-scale use
Polygon	Fast, low-cost transactions while still secured by Ethereum	Adds complexity since it’s an extra layer on top of Ethereum
Hyperledger Fabric	Private, permissioned, controlled access with high throughput	Less decentralized, more suitable for consortium or enterprise use cases

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2. Cryptographic Libraries – Protecting Sensitive Data

Battery data often includes proprietary or sensitive information. Zero-knowledge proof technologies are critical for confidentiality.

• zk-SNARKs – Efficient proofs widely used in blockchain ecosystems. Tooling like snarkjs and circom are industry standards.
• zk-STARKs – More scalable and transparent (no trusted setup), better suited for large datasets. Proofs are larger, which can impact cost.
• Custom Circuits – For unique requirements, custom ZKP implementations may be required. This demands advanced cryptographic expertise.

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3. Database Systems – Managing Off-Chain Data

Not everything belongs on-chain, and trying to force it there just adds cost without value. A smarter approach is to keep the heavy or sensitive stuff in a solid relational database where it’s easier to query, manage, and scale. That way, you get the best of both worlds—trust on-chain and flexibility off-chain.

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4. Integration APIs – Connecting the Ecosystem

For a battery passport to really work, it has to slip right into the systems businesses already use without causing headaches. That’s where clean, well-structured APIs come in, giving you a way to move data back and forth without friction. Whether you want something straightforward or more flexible for complex dashboards, the key is making integration effortless.

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5. Frontend Frameworks – User Interface Layer

The passport must be accessible and intuitive across stakeholders: regulators, manufacturers, recyclers, and consumers.

• React.js – The most mature ecosystem with reusable components, strong state management, and extensive tooling (e.g., React Query). Ideal for scalable, complex dashboards.
• Vue.js – Lightweight and approachable, making it suitable for rapid development and smaller teams. Strong documentation and community support.

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6. QR/ID Standards – Linking Physical and Digital

Physical identifiers connect batteries to their digital twins.

• GS1 Digital Link – The global standard that enhances QR codes with dynamic, resolvable links. Enables multi-layered information retrieval (e.g., manufacturing origin, service history, recycling details).
• ISO-Compliant Identifiers – Standards like ISO/IEC 15459 ensure unique, interoperable identifiers, avoiding lock-in and siloed ecosystems.

Use Case: Driving Transparency in EVs

One of our clients, a leading European EV manufacturer, came to us at a turning point. With the EU Battery Regulation fast approaching, compliance was non-negotiable, but they wanted more. Their vision was to go beyond the checkbox and actually prove their sustainability, building trust into every battery they put on the road.

To succeed, they needed to:

• Trace battery materials back to their origin.
• Verify environmental and ethical sourcing claims.
• Protect suppliers’ sensitive intellectual property within a global, multi-tier supply chain.

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Our Solution

We partnered with them to develop and launch a custom Battery Passport Application, a secure digital thread that connects every stage of the battery’s lifecycle, from mine to showroom.

Here’s how it worked across the ecosystem:

For Material Suppliers

We used Zero-Knowledge Proofs to help cobalt and nickel suppliers prove things like “thisbatch has 25% recycled content” without giving away sensitive details. That way, they kept their data safe while still being fully transparent. The result? More trust, more confidence, and greater supplier participation across the board.

For Regulators

We built a role-based compliance portal, where auditors can scan a QR code on any battery and instantly access verified, tamper-proof compliance records. The process became faster, more reliable, and fully digital.

For Consumers

Each battery came with a QR code that unlocked a simple, interactive dashboard. With a quick scan, shoppers could see the carbon footprint, recycled content, and even how to recycle at end-of-life. What used to be complex data became an easy, clear trust signal right at the point of sale.

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The Business Outcome

The Battery Passport App transformed the client’s operations and market positioning:

• Efficiency Gains: Compliance reporting became 30% faster, eliminating bottlenecks caused by manual data collection.
• Brand Lift: Consumers gained confidence in the brand’s sustainability claims, strengthening loyalty and equity.
• New Opportunities: Aggregated, anonymized supply chain data opened up fresh revenue streams through valuable market insights.
• Future-Ready Operations: The scalable platform positioned the company ahead of EU requirements and prepared them for emerging global standards.

Conclusion

Battery passports go beyond ticking compliance boxes, they’re a chance for businesses to build trust, unlock transparency, and stay ahead in a fast-changing market. The concept has been validated, but there’s still plenty of room for solutions that are enterprise-ready, adaptable, and built to scale. With the right partner, companies can turn regulation into an advantage and create platforms that not only meet today’s standards but also set them up for long-term growth.

Looking to Develop a Battery Passport App?

Our team of ex-MAANG/FAANG engineers brings over 500,000 hours of coding experience to every project. That means we don’t just deliver software; we craft secure, scalable, and future-ready platforms tailored to your business.

What We Build for You

• Verifies Claims, Protects Secrets: Leverage advanced cryptography like Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK-Proofs) to validate sustainability claims while keeping proprietary data confidential.
• Seamless Integrations: Connect smoothly with your ERP and PLM systems, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum efficiency.
• Proof That Builds Trust: Give regulators, partners, and consumers irrefutable proof of your sustainability performance, creating accountability without compromising privacy.

Why Choose Us?

Because compliance is no longer enough, the companies that thrive are those that set the standard. 

We help you define the future of sustainability and supply chain traceability, not just keep up with it.

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