In recent years, as electric vehicles have become more popular, the safety of power batteries has garnered increasing attention. The previous Safety Requirements for Power Batteries Used in Electric Vehicles (GB38031-2020), which mandated that battery systems must no fire and explosion within five minutes during thermal runaway while providing a warning signal, has fallen behind both industry advancements and consumer expectations.
Recently, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) officially released the updated GB38031-2025, set to take effect on July 1, 2026. The new regulation elevates the no fire and no explosion requirement to a mandatory standard, making it known as the strictest battery safety order in history.
Compared to the previous requirement that batteries should not catch fire or explode within 5 minutes after thermal runaway, the new regulations have extended this time to 2 hours, requiring batteries to have no fire or explosion during an observation period of at least 2 hours after thermal runaway, and the temperature at all monitoring points should not exceed 60. At the same time, the new regulations also add a bottom impact test, requiring the battery pack to have no leakage, no fire, and no explosion after being impacted by a 30 mm diameter steel ball with 150J energy, and all passenger cars are included in this standard. In response to the current trend of ultra fast charging, the new national standard requires that after 300 fast charging cycles (SOC range of 20%-80%), the battery still needs to pass an external short-circuit test to prevent performance degradation and safety hazards.
Edited by Cassie Li, lixiangying@mysteel.com
