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Last update: 1998-07-03 .

Standardisation bodies active in the field of Electric Vehicles

The organisations involved with electric vehicle standardisation work are, on a worldwide basis: 

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). 

Inside IEC, the Technical Committee 69 (TC69) is dedicated to electric vehicles. 
IEC TC 69 (Electric Road Vehicles and Electric Industrial Trucks) was established in the 1970's, at a time when environmental concerns, potential oil shortages and available technology made the prospect of electric vehicles attractive. After a slow start, a number of standards and reports were published in the 1980's dealing with chargers, wiring and electric drive systems. More recently, the increasing awareness of environmental matters, coupled with direct legislation to promote zero emission vehicles, has prompted direct involvement at all levels by the vehicle industry. 
Inside TC 69, work is performed by different Working Groups (WG) constituted of experts who are designated by their national committees. 
 
  • WG2, responsible of traction components (motors and controllers) has been active in the 1980's, producing several documents regarding cables, instrumentation, motors and controllers. It has been dormant for a number of years, but was revitalised in 1995, its first commitment being the preparation of a standard considering electric vehicle motors and controllers. This document is a merge and a revision of the documents IEC 785 and IEC 786. The rapid evolution of electric vehicle technology makes it desirable to consider a revision taking into account the latest developments. The concept of integrated electric drives makes a merge of the motor and controller parts of the document desirable. The "new work item proposal" regarding this document has been approved; with however a strong opposition from a number of car manufacturers, who, according to their traditions, deemed this standardisation work unnecessary. The new document should be an answer however to the needs of ISO who have requested clear standards including characteristics, specifications and testing procedures for electric vehicle components. In the field of standardisation of traction components like motors and controllers, the clear opposition between the electrotechnical and the automotive industries mentioned above is in fact obvious. The division of standardisation labour between the two main concerned bodies, IEC and ISO, is the central issue in this field. The activities of WG2 have now been temporarily suspended pending the outcome of the discussions concerning the IEC/ISO agreement. 
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  • The activities of WG3, dealing with traction batteries, have been transferred to a joint working group between IEC TC21/SC21A and IEC TC69. This group aims to develop generic standards about electric vehicle traction batteries. 
  • The working group that was most active in recent years has been WG4, which deals with charging infrastructure. The activities of this working group, where delegates from energy suppliers, car manufacturers, component manufacturers and users are present, may be considered as exemplary for a fruitful mutual collaboration between different parties in the view of electric vehicle standardisation. 

    • WG4 has in fact been able to reach a considerable progress, with several new documents being prepared covering the different modes of charge which may be considered for specific applications. 
    WG4 has defined a specific structure for the development of new standards which are due to replace the old standard IEC718 (1992): "Electrical equipment for the supply of energy to battery powered road vehicles". The scope of this structure is to accommodate the different kinds of charging which can be taken into account, namely conductive and inductive charging. 
    Each of these types of charging will be covered in a series of documents with a common structure: 
    • a first part concerning general requirements 
    • a second part covering the physical, electrical and performance requirements concerning the charging devices (when not already standardised). This part is subdivided as follows (each part published as an international standard in its own right): 
      • electric vehicle requirements 
      • charging station requirements (may encompass different parts, according to the technique used: AC or DC charging, types of inductive charging,... ) communication protocol 
    WG4 works together with other IEC Technical Committees on relevant matters: 
    • TC23, SC23E on circuit breakers and residual current devices 
    • TC23, SC23H WG6 on plugs, sockets, connectors and vehicle inlets for conductive charging of electric vehicles 
The standardisation prepared by WG4 aims primarily at electric road vehicles being charged at standard AC supply voltages. The aspects covered include characteristics and operating conditions of the supply device and the connection of the vehicle, operators and third party electrical safety and the characteristics to be complied with by the vehicle with respect to the electricity supply equipment. The standards do not apply to heavy-duty vehicles (e.g. buses), industrial vehicles (e.g. fork lift trucks), or off-road vehicles (e.g. wheelchairs). 
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The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), 

Inside ISO, Technical Committee 22 is responsible for road vehicles; its Sub-Committee 21 (ISO TC22 SC21) is dedicated to electric road vehicles. The following working groups are active: 
  • WG 1 Vehicle operation conditions, vehicle safety and energy storage installation 
  • WG 2 Terminology. Definitions and methods of measurement of vehicle performance  and of energy consumption 
The ISO committees are mostly composed of delegates of car manufacturers. 

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Regional and National Standardisation Bodies 

Europe: CEN, CENELEC and the ECE 

In the European Union, regional standardisation bodies are active. The structure of these bodies, CEN and CENELEC, emulate the role of ISO and IEC on the world level. 
The aim of CEN is described as "The implementation of standardisation throughout Europe to facilitate the development of the exchange of goods and services and the elimination of technical barriers to trade". CEN and CENELEC interact closely with the international bodies ISO and IEC; this is of particular importance in order to further reduce barriers to trade at the international level. The main difficulty in this field appears to be the failure actually to implement the International Standards voted positive in the CEN/CENELEC sense, thereby abandoning competing specifications. 
Since 1985, the European Union has devised a "new approach" towards standardisation issues in order to use the work of standardisation bodies as a way to devise new directives, which are enforced in the Union. 
 
  • CEN TC301 has produced a number of documents which are now registered as Draft European Standards (prEN). They relate to the following fields: 
    • Electric and hybrid vehicle performance measurement 
    • Safety aspects 
  • CENELEC TC69X is producing a document set on charging infrastructure. In order to obtain a maximal efficiency of standardisation work, these documents should closely emulate the work of IEC TC69 WG4. Otherwise, the parallel work going on between committees would be a waste of resources, and the existence of non-identical standards on the same subject would lead to confusion. 
  • Furthermore, a number of regulations for vehicle type approval are issued by the "Economic Commission for Europe", an international organisation based in Geneva. The ECE regulations are often reproduced in European Union directives and included in countries' national legislation. It should be stated however that the ECE is not part of the EU administration; rather, the EU is a member of the ECE, representing the fifteen EU member states as a single body. 

    • Existing ECE regulations are being adapted to be applicable for electric vehicles. It is important however to perform this adaptation sensibly: the proposed ECE document describing a method for determining the power of electric vehicle drive trains for example, even if it covers a certain need (the determination of drive train power is not only useful for technical reasons but is also needed for purposes such as taxation or insurance) is typical for ill-adapted standardisation work: an existing document about internal-combustion engined vehicles has been "converted" to electric vehicles without taking into account the proper characteristics of electric drives: the proposed document even speaks about the "crankshaft" of an electric motor... 
     
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United States 

In the United States, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has issued a number of technical documents concerning electric vehicles. These include both "standards" and "recommended practices". 
 

Japan 

In Japan, electric vehicle standardisation work is being done by the Japanese Electric Vehicle Association (JEVA) 
 
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© 1998: Van den Bossche Peter. These pages may not be reproduced without the author's permission.