162 Chapter 13 As shown in this list the IEEE does have several standards for lithium-ion batteries, but they are targeted at portable power applications such as cellular telephones and portable computer batteries (IEEE, 2014). Underwriter’s Laboratory The UL is one of the oldest private safety testing and certification organizations in the world. Founded in 1894, the UL has focused their efforts on safety testing and certification for consumer products. Today UL continues to increase their testing scope to include significant consulting business in order to “ keep safety ahead of innovation in an evolving global landscape” (Underwriter’s Laboratory, 2014).
UL testing and certification has been well established for consumer batteries such as the battery in your laptop, tablet, or smart phone. However, the automotive industry has initially pushed back on the need for UL testing and certification for automotive batteries. The reasons for this are twofold. First, the automotive manufacturers already do significant and expensive testing to validate their batteries and have developed their own set of testing and verification- requirements that are aligned with the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA) requirements.
Second, they did not like the idea of a separate organization that had little involvement in the product development to have the final approval. And of course UL testing adds significant expense to an already expensive automotive validation program which would require paying someone for testing that may have already been completed. UL testing must be conducted by the Underwriter’s Laboratory, whereas other certifications such as UN testing may be self-certified requiring only that you have the data from the testing available. As of this writing there are seven UL certification requirements for batteries, including:
UL 1642 Lithium Cell UL 1973 Batteries for use in Light Electric Rail applications and Stationary Applications UL 1989 Standby Batteries UL 2054 Alkaline Cell or Lithium/Alkaline Packs UL 2271 Batteries for use in Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) applications UL 2580 Batteries for use in Electric Vehicles UL/CSA/IEC 60065 Batteries used in audio and video equipment (Underwriter’s Laboratory, 2014) As is shown in the list above, the range of UL certifications covers diverse areas such as lithium cells, rail, light vehicles, stationary energy storage, standby batteries, and EVs.
Det Norske Veritas (DNV-GL) Founded in 1864 in Oslo, Norway, Det Norske Veritas (DNV) is a key organization focused on providing classification, technical assurance, and independent expert advisory services to the maritime, oil and gas, and energy industries. In late 2013, DNV-GL developed and