Standardization for electromobility

Electrification of the powertrain is one of the megatrends in the automotive industry from a technical perspective, along with automated driving and digitalization. Electromobility is the key to emission-free driving in the future and is strongly promoted by political organizations and governments. Standardization is essential for the ramp-up of electromobility. Standards define fundamental requirements for quality, safety, help reduce costs, and enable interoperability and compatibility. They provide investment security, and compliance with standards ensures market acceptance. This is crucial in the context of the ramp-up of electromobility for customer acceptance in particular.  

Project development of standards in the field of electromobility is carried out at ISO under TC22/SC37 "Electrically propelled vehicles". The committees are mirrored at national level in the Automotive Standards Committee under AA37 "Electric road vehicles".  

With their structure, the committees cover all aspects of standardization in the field of electromobility. This ranges from passenger cars to commercial vehicles, from terminology to performance and consumption measurement, and from energy transfer requirements to systems and components for electric propulsion.  

The Standardization & Regulation department is responsible for drafting new standards and revising existing ones, and handles working groups on the following topics: 

• Aspects of electrical safety for electrically powered road vehicles, 
• terminology, 
• Power and consumption measurement for vehicles with electric drive components, 
• Requirements and testing of battery systems, 
• Vehicle requirements for wired and wireless charging, 
• Requirements for electric drive train components and HV on-board systems. 

In the area of aspects of electrical safety for electrically driven road vehicles, the main focus is on safety requirements for e-vehicles. Electrically driven vehicles have different requirements than conventionally driven vehicles. This primarily relates to the operational safety of electric vehicles. Operational safety also relates primarily to the protection of persons inside and outside the vehicle.  

In the terminology section, the most important terms and definitions from the field of electromobility are set down. This ensures a uniform global understanding of all terms relating to electromobility. This also forms the basis for the creation of further standards in the field of electromobility.  

Power and consumption measurement for vehicles with electric drive components deals with measurement methods for measuring the energy consumption and range of hybrid electric-powered road vehicles - externally chargeable or not - and fuel cell vehicles.  

In the circle on requirements and testing of battery systems, safety requirements for rechargeable energy storage systems of electric vehicles are addressed, among other things. This contributes significantly to improving the protection of people.  

In the case of vehicle requirements for wired and wireless charging, requirements are defined for operational safety and functional safety during normal charging, fast charging, wireless charging, and automatic conductive energy transfer. In addition, special requirements for commercial vehicles are also addressed here.

In the area of requirements for components of the electric drive train and the HV on-board system, voltage subclasses and characteristics for rechargeable energy storage systems and characteristics for electric drive systems are defined. In addition, test procedures for testing the performance of voltage class B electric drive components are also specified here.  

Further information on the topics of standardization in the field of electromobility, on the corresponding committees ISO/TC22/SC37 and NA 052-00-37 AA, and on the published standards from this field can be found under the following links: 

ISO - ISO/TC 22/SC 37 - Electrically propelled vehicles 

National committees (din.de)