Information on Electric Vehicle Safety

Electric vehicles produced by major auto manufacturers must meet all the same safety standards as conventional vehicles. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration establishes these requirements.

In 1991, a national consortium of automakers, equipment manufacturers, building officials, utilities and government officials began addressing issues facing electric vehicle safety (EVS) charging. Called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Working Council (IWC), the consortium began parallel efforts to develop vehicle and charging equipment using a systems approach. The outcome of their efforts was equipment and electric vehicle safety standards that result in equipment which uses technology to handle shock hazards and battery hydrogen off-gassing. IWC recommended these standards to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the American National Standards Institute, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

Electric Vehicle Safety if Foremost

Electric Vehicle Safety was and is the primary reason charging equipment and safety standards have progressed in the direction they have. Some Electric Vehicle Safety enthusiasts assert that existing plugs and receptacles, such as NEMA 14-50R or -30R, provide sufficient safety for an Electric Vehicle application. As far as we know, this claim is unsubstantiated by any independent testing. While RVs, clothes dryers, welders and so on use these receptacles, the duty cycle of these do not compare to that of Electric Vehicles. With Electric Vehicles, regular connection and disconnection of the vehicle to the charging equipment happens twice a day at a minimum (e.g., when leaving home in the morning and when returning in the evening). When public or workplace charging is used, this number is more.

With more and more Electric vehicles on the road the Electric Vehicle Safety is being closely studied. The findings are positive and have shown that several Electric vehicles feature maximize safety. For example, Electric vehicles tend to have a lower center of gravity that makes them less likely to roll over. Electric vehicles have less potential for major fires or explosions. And the body construction and durability of Electric vehicles enhance electric vehicle safety in a collision.

Electric Vehicle Safety - Battery Pack

Electric vehicles have multiple layers of safety built in. In a gas car, the battery uses the chassis for its ground, which means the current path actually passes through the body of the car. The battery pack in an EV does not. It is called a floating system, which is completely electrically isolated from the chassis. In fact, some components, such as the speed controller and charger, will not function if they detect a current path to the chassis, even in milliamps.