The moment you plug in your electric vehicle and begin charging, an extraordinary amount of electricity instantly passes through the charging cable and into your EV battery – sometimes enough to power an entire house.
As the current transfers from the charger cable and coupler to the vehicle wires, fuses, and battery, UL standards are there to keep you safe from hazards throughout the circuit.
The Risks
- Electric shock to users from accessible parts in grounded or isolated circuits for EV charging.
- Damaged or malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries may slip into thermal runaway, an uncontrollable, self-heating state that can end in fire.
- Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries are faster and more aggressive than other fires.
How Can Standards Reduce the Risk?
Our catalog of standards for EV technology not only covers the batteries, fuses, and polymeric electrical equipment in your vehicle, they also cover charging systems, cables, and couplers, as well as wireless power transfer equipment and more. Additionally, our standard for evaluation for repurposing or remanufacturing batteries provides requirements for the sorting and grading process involved in repurposing batteries from their original configured in electric vehicles, to use in other applications, such as energy storage.
UL Standards & Engagement’s Impact
Our work in this area began in 1996 with the publication of UL 2231-1 and UL 2231-2, which featured requirements covering EV components and systems, to reduce the risk of electric shock. At the time, automakers in the United States were just beginning to introduce EVs to their production lines.
Since then, the number of EVs in use has grown exponentially. EV technology has continued to evolve, and UL Standards & Engagement has maintained a consistent focus on safety for these products every step of the way – publishing and updating standards regularly to help guide the safe development of this technology.
Learn more about how we’re working to guide the safe development of EV technology here:
Fast Facts
Our August 2023 poll found that 47% of EV or hybrid owners are unaware that their vehicles contain a lithium-ion battery. (Source: UL Standards & Engagement)
According to the same poll, 53% of U.S. adults aren’t aware that there are safety standards for lithium-ion batteries. (Source: UL Standards & Engagement)
