This SAE Standard defines a minimum set of acceptable safety criteria for a lithium-based rechargeable battery system to be considered for use in a vehicle propulsion application as an energy storage system connected to a high voltage power train. While the objective is a safe battery system when installed into a vehicle application, this Standard is primarily focused, wherever possible, on conditions which can be evaluated utilizing the battery system alone. As this is a minimum set of criteria, it is recognized that battery system and vehicle manufacturers may have additional requirements for cells, modules, packs and systems in order to assure a safe battery system for a given application.

A battery system is a completely functional energy storage system consisting of the pack(s) and necessary ancillary subsystems for physical support and enclosure, thermal management, and electronic control.

Purpose

This SAE Standard should assure that a battery pack can safely be integrated into an electric or hybrid vehicle. Specifically, it is designed to assure that a single point fault will not result in fire, explosion, battery enclosure rupture or high voltage hazard. This Standard includes tests that simulate "normal" conditions and "off-normal" conditions that, although infrequent, may occur during service life. Pass/fail criteria are assigned to each test.

Future Considerations

In order to expedite the release of the first version of this Standard, several topic areas were deferred for consideration in future revisions. These items include, but may not be limited to, the following:

• Expanded flammability/thermal propagation considerations

• Enhanced definition of flammability test condition

• Expanded enclosure integrity test conditions

• Potential toxicity of vented materials under certain failure conditions

• Expanded compatibility with other related global standards

• Electromagnetic compatibility