As well as being the largest market in the world for electric vehicles, China is also widely recognised as having some of the most stringent and comprehensive legal requirements on electric vehicle safety in the world. However, to ensure that their legal requirements keep pace with the latest developments in electric vehicle technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China recently published an updated version of the Chinese standard on electric vehicle safety requirements; GB 18384-2025, which replaces GB 18384-2020.
In drafting the updated requirements for inclusion into Chinese standard GB 18384-2025, experience gained from applying the existing Chinese standard and new developments in the field of electric vehicle technology were taken into account. Furthermore, the technical requirements specified within the latest versions of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN ECE) Regulation No. 100, UN ECE Global Technical Regulation (GTR) No. 20 and International Standards Organisation (ISO) standard ISO 6469-3 were also taken into consideration, with the intention of seeking harmonisation with the requirements specified in those standards wherever practical.
Compared to GB 18384-2020, the main changes introduced by GB 18384-2025 can be summarised as follows:
- New requirements, and a new vehicle impact test procedure, covering the protection of the underside of the vehicle are introduced.
- The protection against vehicle collision requirements are expanded to also include rear impact testing in accordance with GB 20072.
- Updates to the requirements on the protection against water are introduced and the depth of water specified for the simulated wade test is increased.
- A new test procedure to determine the pressure resistance of barriers / enclosures used to prevent direct contact with high voltage electrical systems and components is introduced.
- A new steady state touch current test procedure to determine the maximum steady state touch current of vehicle inlets and capacitive couplings is introduced.
- The fitment of a service disconnect is mandated and new requirements for a low voltage service disconnect are introduced.
- Modified requirements on the systems and components that must be marked with the high voltage warning system are introduced.
- Modified requirements on the insulation resistance monitoring function are introduced.
- Modifications to the test procedure for the vehicle insulation resistance test are introduced.
- New requirements on information to be included in the vehicle user manual are introduced.
With regard to introduction dates, compliance with this updated standard becomes mandatory for new types of vehicle from July 1, 2026 and for all new vehicles from August 1, 2027.