12/17/2007 (Tim Schaefer, Hannes Neupert)
On Nov 13, 2007, during a workshop for engineers, the BATSO testing standards for battery safety were discussed. Representatives of the international LEV industry showed a clear interest to join the Technical Committee and define the testing standards.
Hannes Neupert, President of ExtraEnergy e.V, opened up the workshop with a speech about the safety of lithium batteries. Based on the experiences of his battery tests, Mr. Neupert showed the current status of battery safety in LEVs which are sold in Europe today. Another topic was the confusion among consumers, OEMs and battery manufacturers concerning UN transport regulations of dangerous goods.
Dr. Mo-Hua Yang, President of EnergyBus e.V. showed the safety of lithium batteries with regards to their chemistry. He gave an overview of currently used and future technologies.
Michael Bopp from Honeywell Security reported about UN-T tests as obligatory requirement for the use of lithium batteries in LEVs.
Tim Schaefer, BATSO Project Manager and Project Coordinator at Li-Tec Battery, introduced the BATSO concept, the organizations involved as well as the BATSO battery testing standards. He first presented the BATSO 01 Manual for Evaluation of Energy Systems for LEVs – Secondary Lithium Batteries, which will come into effect in 2008.
The Industry Supports BATSO
After the lectures the workshop participants gave their opinion about BATSO, battery safety, and the dangerous good regulation. As a general statement, the industry responded in a very positive way to the BATSO project and goals. The following are comments from workshop participants:
Alexander Brinker, Head of R&D at Hudson-Bike:
The cost issue involved in certifying a new battery pack will be a big issue for small and medium size LEV companies. Mr. Brinker emphasized that he does not want to see problem-products in the market and, therefore, he supports the BATSO approach.
Julian Pahlow, Head of Electric Bike R&D at Panther:
A key issue is the amortization of costs for the safety tests. BATSO may help to improve the safety level in the battery industry. The sale of most batteries will most likely not return the investment of battery testing. The solution may be the one that Gazelle also favors: Take an existing battery pack, which is certified, and create a customized outer shell around it.
Tomi Engel, Technical Committee Solar Mobility at DGS (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Solarenergie e.V.):
The German Association for Solar Energy (DGS) is a consumer organization that is very concerned about battery safety. DGS is supporting BATSO. Recent standards of solar cell producers show the importance of standards. Enforce it like RAL-Solar was enforced just by customer demand, not by law. Only very little marketing was required to make the customers aware of the standard.
Gertjan van Reemen, Sales Europe at GP Battery:
BATSO is a very good idea. It will mean that it will shake out some battery suppliers. Small quantity customers may be covered with standard modules. Since safety includes the packaging, the housing should be covered and it should be taken into consideration to prevent that cells are replaced by other cells which could cause a BASTO tested original pack which is safe to turn into a dangerous pack by changing the cells in the aftermarket. Mr. van Reemen hopes that BATSO will include a regulation that with the opening of a back it will loose its safety label. When price competition is tight, BATSO will help to make the difference.
Hideaki Aoki, Project Leader, E-Commuter Development Project at Sanyo:
BATSO is an important and good idea especially for lithium batteries. It is very difficult to make up exact conditions on pack level including the heat management. Mr. Aoki would like to learn more about it.
Andrej Westermann, LEV service technician Elektrofahrzeuge Service GmbH:
Swiss people are interested in good quality solutions. Safety is a key. EFS supports BATSO and EnergyBus to bring flexibility to the market and a wider range of products. EFS would like to see that the industry working together.
Siegfried Neuberger, Technical CEO of ZIV (German Two-Wheel Industry Association):
ZIV is always in favor of standards if they make products safer. BATSO is probably too much of an investment for most electric bike manufacturers. Battery certification will more or less be the responsibility of battery manufacturers. A modular structure of the battery business, as proposed by Johanna Tiffe will make sense to reduce the investment into testing and certification for all parties involved. A question to Mr. Neuberger is how BATSO can be enforced.
Johannes Doerndorfer, R&D Department at Telerob:
Mr. Doerndorfer pointed out that BATSO is important for marketing reasons. But for a company like Telerob, producing small quantities of special robots, it is very expensive to lose 20 batteries for BATSO testing. He urges to ad a "screwdriver" test into the BATSO manual. The reason for this suggestion is that he saw a number of electric scooters at EICMA show in Milan with huge lithium battery packs, which had unprotected contacts. Such lack of protection can easily result in a short circuit when handled with metal tools like screwdrivers.
Dr. Mo-Hua Yang, President of EnergyBus e.V., Researcher at ITRI:
The good thing about BATSO is that TUV and UL - two of the largest test houses in the world – have a lot of experience in creating standards. ITRI and ExtraEnergy contribute chemical and market knowledge.
Michael Bopp, Test Engineer at Honeywell Security:
Lithium battery applications are increasing. But there is the safety issue. A cry from the market - a call for safety! BATSO can be a good answer. The costs of BATSO may be high now. But, for comparison, some years ago computers were very expensive. Now everyone has one or more than one. The standard may become affordable; there will be a price regulation on the market in the next 5 years.
The well-known testing institutions ITRI, TUV Rheinland, and UL will offer the BATSO tests. Other Institutions can also have themselves listed. Also governmental authorities, the EU and the Republic of China are interested to transfer the Standard. BATSO is also in touch with IEC and other nongovernmental organizations.
