The European Union’s Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 establishes minimum requirements for the performance, durability and safety of batteries, including those used in stationary battery energy storage systems (SBESS). Until now, SBESS had not been covered by a specific European safety regulation, so the Joint Research Centre (JRC) submitted a standardisation request to CEN/CENELEC to develop harmonised safety standards that would provide a presumption of conformity for batteries tested according to those standards. The JRC report, authored by Hildebrand, Eddarir and Lebedeva and published in 2024, offers a comprehensive overview of the safety tests that are already defined in existing standards and evaluates how well they align with the requirements of the new Regulation.

The technical analysis focuses on a range of safety tests that the Regulation mandates. These include thermal shock and cycling, external short‑circuit protection, overcharge and over‑discharge protection, over‑temperature protection, thermal propagation, mechanical damage by external forces, impact tests, and drop tests. The report examines how each of these tests is addressed in current standards for different battery chemistries—lithium‑ion, nickel‑metal hydride, lead‑acid, sodium high‑temperature, and flow batteries. For example, tables in the report compare the test procedures for “thermal abuse” and “fire test” across standards such as UL 1973:2020, IEC 62619, and IEC 62660, highlighting differences in temperature limits, duration, and measurement criteria. Another table summarizes the emission‑of‑gases requirements, showing that while some standards specify maximum gas release rates, others do not address this aspect at all. The report also lists safety standards that are explicitly referenced in the Regulation for each chemistry, providing a clear mapping of regulatory expectations to existing test methods.

A key finding is that no single standard currently covers all the safety tests required by the Regulation. While many standards include some of the necessary tests, gaps remain—particularly in areas such as combined thermal and mechanical abuse, long‑term cycling under high temperature, and detailed gas emission limits. The JRC report therefore identifies these gaps and proposes that the forthcoming harmonised standards should incorporate the missing test methods to ensure comprehensive safety coverage for SBESS. The analysis also notes that the existing standards provide a solid foundation for developing regulatory tests, but that harmonisation will be essential to achieve uniform safety assurance across the EU market.

The collaboration behind the report is international and multidisciplinary. The authors are researchers at the JRC, and the report incorporates input from experts in national standardisation bodies and industry groups from China, Australia, India, and Korea. Contributions from the China Automotive Technology & Research Center, the Australian Government, the Bureau of Indian Standards, and the Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute helped to contextualise national standards and identify best practices. The project was funded by the European Commission through the JRC, and the report was completed and published in 2024. This collaborative effort underscores the EU’s commitment to aligning national safety practices with a unified regulatory framework, thereby enhancing the safety and reliability of stationary battery energy storage systems across the continent.