United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE) Regulation No. 100 on the construction and functional safety of battery electric vehicles was originally published in 1996. In 2011, an 01 series of amendments to ECE 100 was published which significantly updated its requirements and extended its scope to include all vehicles with an electric power train, such as hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.
During the development of the 01 series of amendments to ECE 100, it was recognised that the design, specification and performance of the vehicle’s battery system were key factors in the overall safety of the complete vehicle as the battery system is a safety critical system. Therefore, whilst some basic requirements on these battery systems, referred to as rechargeable energy storage systems (REESS), were included in the 01 series of amendments to ECE 100, it was agreed that more detailed requirements to specifically address the safety performance of REESS needed to be established.
In 2010, a specific Expert Group was set up to develop these requirements and this group met six times between 2010 and 2012. The results of this group’s work were a full suite of REESS performance requirements and associated test procedures that could be introduced into ECE 100 as a new series of amendments. The REESS Expert Group also ensured that these new requirements and test procedures were specified in a manner that allowed them to be applied at either a complete vehicle level or at a component level. This meant that, in addition to vehicle manufacturers being able to obtain type approval to these new requirements for their complete vehicles, REESS manufacturers would also be able to obtain component type approval for their rechargeable energy storage systems (REESS) as separate components / systems.
The 02 series of amendments to ECE 100 on electric power trains, which introduce these new requirements, and associated test procedures, on the performance of rechargeable energy storage systems (REESS) was published on 12th August 2013. The new REESS performance requirements introduced by the 02 series of amendments cover the following areas:
- Vibration
- Thermal shock and cycling
- Mechanical shock
- Mechanical integrity
- Fire resistance
- External short circuit protection
- Overcharge protection
- Over-discharge protection
- Over temperature protection
- Emission of gases
Compliance with the requirements of ECE 100-02 becomes mandatory for new types of vehicle from 15th July 2016.