The latest power battery standard is released! 9 Battery Companies Participated

At a time when the safety of new energy vehicles has been pushed to the forefront of public opinion, the new regulation, which is called "the most stringent battery safety order in history" by the industry, has come! 

On April 3, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued GB38031-2025 "Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for electric vehicle", a new regulation known as "the most stringent battery safety order in history", which will be implemented on July 1, 2026. 

For the first time, the new national standard has upgraded "no fire, no explosion" from enterprise technology reserve to mandatory requirement, completely ending the industry's fluke mentality on the risk of thermal runaway, marking that power battery safety has entered the era of "zero tolerance". 

The drafting unit includes a number of major battery companies, vehicle factories and testing/testing institutions. Among them, battery companies include Ningde Times, Guoxuan Gaoke, BYD, Zhongchuang Xinhang, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Ruipu Lanjun, Xinwangda, Honeycomb Energy and Tianjin Lishen, which are represented by chief technology officers of their respective enterprises, such as Wu Kai, chief scientist of Ningde Times, and Sun Huajun, chief technology officer (CTO) of BYD Lithium Battery Co., Ltd. 

 According to the compilation instructions issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of February this year, a survey of 36 vehicle and battery companies showed that 78% of them had mastered the technology of non-ignition and non-explosion of power batteries, while the R emaining 14% of them were expected to reach this technology level in 2026-2027. Based on this, the new standard is scheduled to be formally implemented in 2026. 

 01 Three core upgrades 

 1. Thermal diffusion is absolutely safe 

  Trigger means upgrade: On the basis of needling and external heating, the method of internal heater triggering heat out of control is added to cover more realistic accident scenarios. At the same time, the needling speed is adjusted from 0.1-10mm/s to    0.1-1mm/s, which is closer to the actual failure mode. 

 Reconstruction of escape mechanism: It is required to send out an alarm signal within 5 minutes after thermal runaway, and smoke shall not enter the passenger compartment, so as to completely eliminate the risk of "secondary poisoning during escape". 

 Extension of observation time: monitor for at least 2 hours after the test, and the temperature of all monitoring points shall be lower than 60 ℃ to prevent delayed deflagration. 

 This change shifts the safety defense line from "passive escape" to "active blocking", requiring the battery system to have multi-level thermal runaway protection capability. 

2. The bottom impact test is included in the mandatory requirements. 

 To simulate the impact of flying stones, a steel ball with a diameter of 30 mm was used to impact the weakest part of the battery pack with an energy of 150 J, and no leakage, fire or explosion was required after the impact. 

 The exemption conditions are strict: only Class N commercial vehicles with ground clearance ≥ 200 mm are allowed to be exempted from testing, and all passenger vehicles are included in the supervision. 

3. Closed-loop management of fast charging safety 

 For the ultra-fast charging battery of "charging for 15 minutes and lasting 400 kilometers", it is required to pass the external short circuit test after 300 fast charging cycles. Define the SOC range: 20% -80% fast charging performance needs to be kept stable to prevent the accumulation of "chronic diseases" of the battery. 

 Nowadays, fast charging and ultra-fast charging technologies have become the pioneers of new technologies. Especially in 2025, it is generally regarded as the "first year of outbreak" of the large-scale application of ultra-fast charging technology. The implementation of the new regulations is conducive to avoiding enterprises simply stacking charging power but ignoring durability. 

02 Technology Iteration Industry elimination Opens 

 Policy-driven standardized testing is not only the "threshold" for industry access, but also the "catalyst" for technological innovation. 

 Last September, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde Times, pointed out that the safety factor of most batteries on the market is far from enough. Its call, "I hope that the industry will put competition aside first, put the vital interests of consumers, especially the safety that everyone values first, jointly improve safety standards, and establish an absolute red line of safety standards.". 

 At present, safety is never a technical problem, but the lifeline of enterprise survival. According to a platform survey, 72% of car buyers listed battery safety as the first consideration, exceeding endurance and intelligent configuration. 

 The new standard is on the line, and a realistic question follows: Can battery products that have been released in the past two years meet the new requirements that will be implemented in 2026? This is essentially asking whether battery companies have reserved enough safety redundancy while pursuing performance and cost. 

 Especially under the price war in the industry, many enterprises fall into the endless cycle of "cost-safety". In order to reduce losses, they cut corners in the design of safety protection and cut the safety budget again and again. The promulgation of the new national standard is undoubtedly a stronger "safety lock" for the new energy automobile industry in the rush. 

 For battery companies, backward production capacity/products will be eliminated at an accelerated pace. Second-and third-line battery factories with weak technical strength and insufficient product safety redundancy will face tremendous transformation pressure and even survival crisis, while the leading enterprises will consolidate their own moat. 

 For example, in terms of structural design, Ningde Times CTP3.0 Kirin battery adopts the structure of transverse and longitudinal beams to enhance the anti-extrusion ability by 30%; in terms of intelligent early warning, BYD blade battery is equipped with self-developed "smart eye" system, which can warn thermal runaway 10 minutes in advance; At the level of emergency protection, GAC magazine batteries are equipped with automatic fire extinguishing agent injection devices to strive for golden escape time. 

 At the same time, the ultimate pursuit of safety will accelerate the iterative innovation of technology routes such as solid-state batteries. The compatibility of the standard with new energy storage devices such as sodium-ion batteries and lithium metal batteries also reserves space for the diversified development of technology. 

 In terms of vehicle enterprises, the new standard forces car companies to redesign the battery pack structure and strengthen the bottom protection and thermal management system. 

 For example, the bottom of the battery pack needs to be integrated with a high-strength anti-collision beam, and the thermal runaway protection materials need to meet the characteristics of high temperature resistance and flame retardant. Industry estimates show that the cost of battery systems meeting the new regulations will increase by about 15% -20%, forcing enterprises to accelerate the transformation to high safety and long life technology. 

 In addition, new test items such as bottom impact test and thermal runaway monitoring for up to 2 hours are added to help the testing and certification industry usher in market development opportunities. It is said that the single cost of the bottom impact test may exceed 2 million. For the first time, the Report on the Work of the Government in 2025 has listed the safety of power batteries as a compulsory item for the annual inspection of new energy vehicles, and the market size of testing and certification is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan in the future. 

 03 Build a strong security line 

 With the rapid development of the new energy automobile industry, the global ownership of new energy automobiles has broken through the 250 million mark. However, the problem of thermal runaway of power batteries, like the "sword of Damocles" hanging high, seriously threatens the steady progress of the industry. 

 The promulgation of the new national standard is to change battery safety from a "probability game" to a "required question". In the short term, labor pains are inevitable, production costs will increase, technical challenges are in front of us, and industry shuffling will intensify. 

 But in the long run, the implementation of the new national standard will drive the whole industry chain to tighten the "safety chord", focusing on "absolute safety" rather than endurance competition, from battery materials to structural design, from system integration to intelligent thermal management algorithms and other iterative optimization, will promote the whole industry from "barbaric growth" to "intensive cultivation" and achieve high-quality development. 

 In addition, industry insiders interpret that the promulgation of the new national standard is not only to improve product safety quality, but also to compete for the voice and technological commanding heights of the global industry. 

 In the field of new energy vehicles, China has occupied an important position in the global market. By raising the threshold of power battery safety standards in line with international standards, China can not only consolidate its technological advantages, but also enhance its voice in the international industrial chain, providing a guarantee for the development of industrial globalization. 

 With the intensification of international competition, Chinese enterprises need to accelerate their convergence to high-precision, intelligent and global standards under the policy framework. Only by transforming "compliance" into "competitiveness" can we continue to lead the new energy track. 

 It should be pointed out that the implementation effect of the policy depends on the reconstruction of the supporting implementation system, such as the establishment of battery safety traceability platform, breaking through the data barriers of automobile enterprises, testing institutions and insurance companies, and the establishment of special compensation funds to help small and medium-sized automobile enterprises overcome the pains of technological transformation. In addition, the policy supervision after implementation is also a key link. 

 When "no fire, no explosion" is no longer a slogan, the new national standard will not only be a paper regulation, but also a milestone for China's new energy automobile industry to move towards high-quality development. This upgrade of life safety may lead to a more profound technological revolution. In the next few years, the landing of the new national standard and the verification of safety technology will be the key window to observe the safety level of the industry.