How to Improve the Safety Performance of Electric Vehicle in China

The Tesla fire and "fire extinguishing" process tell us that not only is the experience of Tesla's crisis public relations worthy of reference, but the effective measures to prevent and solve the safety risks of electric vehicles are also worth analyzing. These are important to the safety development of electric vehicles in our country.

The first is to establish China's electric vehicle safety development confidence.

The emergency handling of the Tesla incident shows that it is very important to establish confidence in the safe use of electric vehicles. In the past two years, China's electric vehicle development has achieved remarkable results. First, China's production and sales of new energy vehicles in 2013 increased by 56.3 % and 42.7 % respectively over the same period last year. Second, the electric vehicles produced by BYD, Zhongtai and other companies have shown strong competitive strength in electric buses, logistics vehicles and other fields, and have won bids in the European and American markets. Third, the safety technology level of electric vehicles in China has been continuously improved. Our electric vehicles have maintained a good safety record since the BYD E6 accident last May. Enterprises and governments should attach importance to the guidance of public opinion, vigorously publicize the achievements of the development of electric vehicles in China, and eliminate public concerns about the safety of electric vehicles.

The second is that the safety of electric vehicles will be accepted by the market.

Safety is at stake in electric vehicles, and Tesla's success is not limited to marketing and range. To promote the safe development of electric vehicles in China, the following should be done well: First, improve the impact resistance of batteries. In August, the Tesla S was just awarded a five-star rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) in what it described as the world's most harsh safety collision test. After the accident, Tesla said it would further introduce higher design standards for the bottom protection of the car. Second, we pay attention to the system design of vehicle-borne early warning. In this accident, it was Tesla's vehicle-borne safety warning system that allowed the owner to follow the instructions and successfully leave the highway and stop and get away safe and sound. Third, do a good job of flame retardant design of the cab. Tesla is working harder in this area so that owners and occupants can escape at a critical moment. This is precisely the design flaw of the BYD E6 taxi that was hit and killed four people. Fourth, do a good job of protecting the batteries and greatly reduce the combustion intensity. The high energy ratio is both the advantage of the power battery and its greatest safety hazard. The reliable isolation protection between the cell modules can prevent other batteries adjacent to the fire battery from burning. It also allows Tesla's 480 km of energy to not endanger the driver's safety, and even fire fighters can easily extinguish the fire.

Third, to improve the safety of lithium batteries in China should start with standards.

At present, the international community attaches great importance to strengthening the safety standards of lithium batteries, improving the safety requirements of lithium batteries, and standardizing the consistency of lithium batteries. Related studies have shown that safety standards account for more than 60 % of the international standard system for lithium batteries. Of the 16 existing lithium-ion battery standards in various fields in China, only three(19 per cent) are special safety standards, which is far below the international level. It is suggested that China speed up the process of digesting and absorbing international standards, and issue safety standards for lithium batteries with international advanced levels, so that the standard of lithium batteries can better meet the needs of the development of new energy vehicles in China.

Fourth, the establishment of a lithium-ion battery industry access system should take safety as the key.

Lead battery industry access is mainly focused on environmental protection, lithium-ion battery industry access should be from the improvement of battery safety as the main goal. In the aspect of industry access of lithium battery enterprises, the safety and consistency of lithium battery are solved by controlling the key points of safety in the whole process of lithium battery production and manufacturing, and advancing the progress of design, materials, and manufacturing technology. In terms of design, we must highlight the requirements of flame retardant materials, insulation, overheated circuit, internal wiring, and the selection of the same batch of products. In the selection of materials, actively break through the core technical bottleneck of positive materials and diaphragm materials. In terms of manufacturing, we must improve the level of automation of equipment, strictly control the consistency of the electrode, use a battery diaphragm with thermal closure characteristics, and use flame retardant electrolytes to reduce heat. At the same time, the manufacturing environment must be controlled to avoid the introduction of impurities in the manufacturing process, powder, etc., leading to safety problems. In safety testing, it is necessary to strengthen the testing and research on overcharge, hot box, acupuncture, extrusion, temperature impact, external short circuit, fall and other tests to improve the safety performance of the finished product.

Microperspectives

@ National Grid: According to the new energy vehicle promotion plan for cities, by 2015, 28 cities or regions will promote 249,530 new energy vehicles, of which 157,520 are public and 8,1910 are private. The highest targets are Beijing and Shenzhen. 35000 vehicles.

@x4bbbbbbbc: The US Department of Energy will allocate $12 million in federal funding to companies specializing in the development of wireless charging systems for electric vehicles. According to this funding scheme, the maximum individual bonus for wireless charging program is 8 million U.S. dollars. The plan will give priority to providing financial support for the development of static and dynamic wireless charging technology for light electric vehicles.

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