A lithium battery working group formed out of the UN Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods met in early February in Brussels to address a number of proposed changes to the testing requirements and definitions in the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria applicable to large format lithium batteries.
Large lithium batteries are used to power electric and hybrid-electric vehicles and in aerospace, military and energy storage stationary applications.
This was the second such working group meeting on large format lithium batteries. The first was held in October 2013 in Washington, D.C. The working group meetings are co-hosted by PRBA – The Rechargeable Battery Association, COSTHA (the Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles) and RECHARGE (the European Association for Advanced Rechargeable Batteries). Participants included government officials from the United States, the UK, Germany, France and Canada as well as leading battery and automobile industry experts from Japan, Germany, China, Korea, France and the U.S.
“The working group meeting allowed battery and automobile industry experts to address technical issues important to the industry. Our goal is to improve the tests in the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria. We made good progress at this meeting, but there is still work to be done on shock testing requirements and other issues,” said PRBA Executive Director George Kerchner.
As a result, another working group meeting is tentatively scheduled for the week of September 29 in Brussels or Washington, DC.