With the popularity of new energy travel modes, the battery safety of electric vehicles has become a topic of great concern to the public. Some people have already considered: Electric vehicle batteries that do not catch fire or explode, is this reliable?
Power battery problems are the main factor in the risk of fire in new energy vehicles
New energy vehicle fires are often related to power batteries, mainly due to severe collisions between vehicles that damage the battery, as well as thermal runaway caused by overcharging and over-discharging of the battery, excessive charging power, and battery quality. The “2024 New Energy Vehicle Insurance Development Report” shows that according to the statistics of new energy vehicle fire incidents from January to November 2022, 22.67% of vehicles spontaneously combusted during charging, 16% of vehicles spontaneously combusted while driving, 38.67% of vehicles spontaneously combusted when parked, 9.33% of vehicles caught fire due to collisions, and other reasons accounted for 13.33% of fires.
It was once envisioned to separate the electric vehicle from the battery pack, and once a fire broke out, press a button to separate the battery. In April this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially released the new national standard GB38031-2025 “Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles”, which will be implemented on July 1, 2026.
The new standard mainly revise the thermal diffusion test, further clarify the temperature requirements of the battery to be tested, the power-on and power-off status, the observation time, and the vehicle test conditions. The technical requirements have been adjusted from the previous provision of thermal event alarm signals 5 minutes before fire and explosion to no fire, no explosion (alarm is still required), and smoke does not cause harm to passengers, etc.; a new bottom impact test has been added to examine the protection ability of the bottom of the battery after being hit; a new safety test after fast charging cycle has been added, and an external short circuit test has been performed after 300 fast charging cycles, requiring no fire, no explosion, etc.
Features of the new standard:
1. The standard name does not contain “T”, so the entire text is enforced. The standard is basically “should” and “should not”.
2.. Directly change “battery fire and explosion are not allowed” from our usual propaganda PPT imagination to the full text of the mandatory standard.
Note: The 2020 version of the national standard only “recommends that there be no thermal diffusion” for battery safety. Translated, the battery pack can smoke and heat up, as long as it does not burn the adjacent battery cell within five minutes.
The new national standard directly overturns the table. After the battery cell thermal runaway, the entire vehicle must ensure that there is no fire or explosion within 2 hours. It is equivalent to giving the power battery a double insurance, which must be controlled at the battery cell level and extinguished at the system level.
But this does not mean that new energy vehicles will not catch fire and explode in the future. A relevant person in charge of an energy company pointed out that high temperatures will be generated after a high-speed collision, reaching the ignition point of components such as seats and cables, which will cause fires, and the battery may also be affected, which may cause explosions.
According to CATL: At present, the new national standard emphasizes that there will be no fire or explosion after thermal runaway inside the power battery. And the non-fire and non-explosion after the collision requires the joint efforts of car companies and battery manufacturers to complete. The non-heat diffusion technology of power batteries will lay a solid foundation for the safety of personnel and vehicles after the collision.
After the implementation of the new national standard for power batteries, the risk of combustion of power batteries in new energy vehicles after collision will be effectively reduced, which can better protect the lives of consumers. At the same time, it will also put forward new requirements for all vehicle and battery companies, promote the survival of the fittest of new cars and new battery products with high standards, and achieve high-quality development of the industry.
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