04/09/2010 (Tim Schaefer, Ralf Knapp)
On March 22-23, 2010 the first BATSO Technical Committee Meeting was held in Shenzhen, China. About 40 international participants visited the TÜV Rheinland Battery Testing Center and in-depth discussed further steps in battery safety testing as well as amendments to the BATSO 01 manual.
The first BATSO Technical Committee Meeting, that was held in Shenzhen, China, in March 2010, took place under the premesis to put more real safety and quality into praxis, accordingly to UN safety transportation, field failure, and application safety as well as reliability tests.
Participants of the 2-day meeting were leading international battery and LEV manufacturers and institutes, particularly involved in advanced Li-ion batteries. Everyone in the meeting room agreed: Safety has highest priority for electric vehicles. Today’s market is longing for green energy solutions and Li-ion batteries in light electric vehicles like pedelecs, e-scooters and e-bikes. The meetings were characterized by detailed presentations, information and discussions.
At the end of the first day the international group of around 40 participants visited the TÜV Rheinland Battery Testing Center in Shenzhen. During the tour, the guests did not only learn a lot about the TUV testing facility but also about Shenzhen's 30-year history, during which about 7 million people moved to this huge industrial zone.
On the second day, basic structures and working methods were presented and more extensively introduced. The Members entitled to vote elected Tim Schaefer (Li-Tec Battery Germany) as Chairman and Ralf Knapp (TÜV Rheinland Taiwan) as Secretary of the BATSO Technical Committee. They will serve these positions for the first working period. Mr. Schaefer has led the BATSO project since the beginning under ExtraEnergy and in close cooperation.
During the afternoon discussions, many safety test details were discussed circumstantially. More transparency through standardized certificates and markings following international practice were introduced.
The principle of BATSO was clearly emphasized: BATSO testing is closely linked to UN-T safety regulations for battery transport in conjunction with two options for BATSO testing: 1) BATSO and UN-T 2) BATSO only. BATSO furthermore provides guidance to the international and constantly changing shipping regulations which are very complex.
Based in general on principles of ISO / IEC 17025 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories) apply, and optional design review and testing program prior to testing were introduced.
Inspection procedures were introduced into BATSO including first inspection (for each factory) combined with annual factory inspection (check items specific for battery industry, re-testing).
BATSO Technical Committee member benefits were defined with possible input to the specification development, gaining early access to BATSO specifications and manuals as well as fast access to all documents, information, especially to draft BATSO specifications and manuals.
The participants agreed to redesign the BATSO internet presentation in order to offer members more service and provide data as public service. Besides, the presentations will be available for free download at www.BATSO.org. This constitutes a significant contribution by the international battery producers leading the BATSO project to greater transparency for the customers and the global LEV community.
BATSO is an initiative and international project for tested and certified safety in the supply chain and value chain of Lithium-Ion batteries for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) and small module applications. Apparently, this project BATSO is the right answer for global needs and the future of safe electro mobility advanced solutions with high quality. And well noticed, working groups will help to bring Environmental Management System Evaluations into BATSO in the near future.
