Safety and Abuse Testing for Battery Systems

Our Approach to Battery Safety Testing

• What is abuse testing?

  Abuse tests are testing procedures in which battery systems are deliberately exposed to conditions beyond their intended operating limits. These include, for example, mechanical damage, thermal overload and electrical fault conditions.

  In the context of lithium-ion batteries, the aim is to assess how the system responds under such extreme conditions and whether critical events such as thermal runaway, fire or structural failure occur. In addition to triggering these effects, particular attention is paid to how they propagate within the system, for example through thermal propagation.

  Unlike standards-based testing, which verifies compliance with defined minimum requirements, abuse testing is intended to provide a deeper understanding of system behaviour under realistic fault scenarios and to assess potential risks beyond regulatory requirements.

• How are batteries tested?

  The aim is to understand and analyse the behaviour of battery systems under misuse, defects or external influences, with a particular focus on safety-critical reactions. In the context of battery systems, abuse testing typically includes:

  • mechanical damage, for example through crush, impact or drop tests
  • thermal overload, such as external fire exposure or overheating
  • electrical fault conditions, including overcharging or short circuits
  • intrusive procedures, such as the deliberate damage of individual cells (e.g. nail penetration)

  The tests analyse whether critical events such as thermal runaway, fire or explosion occur, and how these effects propagate within the battery system.

  Unlike standards-based testing, which verifies compliance with defined minimum requirements, abuse testing is intended to provide a deeper understanding of system behaviour under realistic extreme conditions and to assess potential risks beyond regulatory requirements.

• What role do standards play?

  Our testing portfolio includes both type-approval-related testing and development-accompanying investigations. In particular, this includes testing in accordance with international regulations such as ECE R100, which is a key standard for the type approval of traction batteries in electric vehicles, as well as the corresponding GB and GB/T standards. These regulations define a wide range of mechanical, thermal and electrical tests that battery systems must pass in order to demonstrate their safety during vehicle operation.

  At the same time, our investigations deliberately go beyond these standardised requirements. We develop and implement customised test scenarios that reflect realistic fault conditions and application-specific stresses – particularly in areas where standards are still incomplete or do not yet exist. This enables the early identification and assessment of safety-critical effects that are often not fully covered by standard compliance testing alone.

• Who needs battery safety and abuse testing?

  Safety and abuse testing is relevant for all companies involved in the development, integration or operation of battery systems. This includes, in particular, vehicle and battery system manufacturers, automotive suppliers, as well as companies operating in sectors such as aerospace, commercial vehicles and industrial applications.

  Such testing is becoming increasingly important, especially in application areas where fully established standards do not yet exist or where specific operating conditions must be taken into account. In these cases, abuse testing helps to identify safety-critical risks at an early stage, validate system behaviour and provide a reliable basis for design decisions and approval processes.