International Effort Focuses on Global EV Rules, Standards
Executive Summary
The U.S. has balked at adopting regulations recommended by a United Nations panel, but NHTSA and the EPA will take leading roles in organizing the worldwide standardization effort.
Auto makers, government officials and regulators worldwide agree to try to establish common technical standards for still-evolving electric vehicles.
Under an agreement reached Thursday in Geneva, the U.S., European Union and Japan will form two working parties: one charged with creating formal, global technical EV regulations by 2014, the other focusing on environmental issues surrounding EVs.
The formal rules would be approved under the United Nations World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations system, which produces detailed, but optional standards for governments and regional organizations to adopt as they see fit.
This is significant because while they usually are adopted by the EU and, in sometimes-amended forms, in Japan, they are not automatically applied within the U.S.
However, the U.S. now will be front and center in the development of global EV regulations, with its National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. and Environmental Protection Agency setting up the working parties with the European Commission and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
“This is a crucial step towards the development and reach-out of electric cars,” EC Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani says. “The regulatory cooperation agreement will help to increase the market potential for this important breakthrough technology, contributing for competitiveness and a more sustainable road transport.”
The EC says in a statement it wants the process to be as inclusive as possible, and the working groups will be open to China, India, South Korea and other countries that are parties to the U.N. agreement on global vehicle technical standards.
In a joint announcement, the U.S., EU and Japan say global technical regulations are urgently needed because individual countries supporting growth of EVs already have “started to define their regulatory framework” while the technology is in its infancy.
“Because of the relatively small volume of electric vehicles and their components currently produced, any degree of convergence between regulatory obligations can result in economies of scale and cost reductions for automotive manufacturers – critical in the context of economic recovery and the general cost-sensitiveness of the industry,” the document states.
The working parties will have complementary but distinct roles when they begin meeting in March.
The first will address safety issues and is most likely to draft detailed global technical regulations. According to the joint announcement, the regulations would not mandate the use of specific equipment but instead would specify standards of operation and “be performance-based to the extent possible so as not to restrict future technologies.”
Safety concerns cited in the announcement include the need to protect EV passengers and drivers from electric shocks from high-voltage circuits, lithium-ion batteries and other energy-storage systems, especially those containing flammable electrolyte, during normal operations and in crashes.
A global regulation also would ensure EV systems are appropriately protected from physical shocks and impacts, and from electronic damage, during recharging. Rules on batteries would be aimed at ensuring fire resistance and protect against thermal shock, mechanical shock, overcharge/isolation resistance, overcharge, vibration and short circuits, among other issues.
This working party also will deal with harmonization issues unlikely to become part of a global regulation, notably the standardization of vehicle-to-grid charging systems, potentially enabling intelligent charging and storage.
Creating informal standards in these areas would relate to the second working group’s focus on EVs and the environment. That group, for instance, will try to develop a model for measuring emissions produced by carbon in generating electricity used by EVs.
Delegates to the second group also will exchange information about battery durability, cold-start and recharging performance, fuel-economy standards, end-of-life battery disposal, recycling and other issues.
