The third-party test report of the power battery has been questioned

"That is not an authoritative test report at all, the test standards are not used correctly, how can the results be credible?" In response to the test report provided by Anhui Oupeng Power Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Oupeng Power"), the relevant person of Hefei Guoxuan Hi-Tech Power Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guoxuan Hi-Tech") gave such a response.

A few days ago, Oupeng Power held a special media briefing to accuse Guoxuan Hi-Tech of quality defects in the batteries produced by Guoxuan Hi-Tech, and provided a test report issued by a third-party testing agency, Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection and Certification Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Auto Inspection"), but Guoxuan Hi-Tech related people said that the report test standards were misused and were not convincing at all.

Third-party testing agencies are important "gatekeepers" of product quality. However, Shanghai Auto Inspection, a national product certification body, has been questioned, is there any work flaw in this? In today's rapid development of power batteries, products that have been tested layer by layer still have frequent safety accidents, is there a problem in the detection link itself?

(Wen 丨 This newspaper reporter Lu Qixiu)

The test criteria are controversial

According to the relevant person in charge of Oupeng Power, the company previously purchased a large number of battery cell products from Guoxuan Hi-Tech and began to supply in batches in April last year, and these products have occurred in several months after the spontaneous combustion and explosion of battery packs. Oupeng Power suspected that there were quality defects in the battery cells, and in May this year, it entrusted other companies to a third-party agency for testing.

The test report marked by Shanghai Auto Inspection issued by Shanghai Auto Inspection on June 29, which ou peng power provided to reporters, shows that from May 24 to June 16 this year, Shanghai auto inspection based on GB/T 31485-2015 "power battery safety requirements and test methods for electric vehicles", GB/T31486-2015 "performance requirements and test methods for electric vehicle power batteries", GB38032-2020 "safety requirements for electric buses" and "battery test methods" provided by enterprises. For the 14 lithium-ion battery cells produced by Guoxuan Hi-Tech with IFR32135-15Ah, 8 tests such as heating, extrusion, needle pricking, and thermal runaway were carried out, and 1 caught fire, 2 caught fire and exploded, and the sample test was in a "scrap" state.

In this regard, guoxuan hi-tech related sources responded that the batteries provided for Oupeng Power are used in the field of two-wheelers, and the test should adopt the test standards for two-wheelers, rather than for electric vehicles and buses, "Even if the testing standards for cars are used, they should also be tested with the new national standard, rather than using the old standards of 2015." ”

According to reports, China's automotive power battery testing standards are roughly divided into three stages: automotive industry standards before 2015, national recommended standards in 2015, and national mandatory standards in 2020. The mandatory national standards of GB/T 18384-2020 "Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicles" and GB/T 38031-2020 "Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles" organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have been implemented since January 1 this year. The national standard of GB/T 36972-2018 "Lithium-ion Battery for Electric Bicycles" for electric bicycle tests was also implemented as early as July 2019.

Sampling testing should be approved by both parties

Since there are new standards and standards for specific application scenarios, why don't testing agencies adopt them? The reporter called the chief inspector of the Shanghai auto inspection report to interview relevant questions, the other party did not respond, and then called many times, but no one answered.

According to the official website of Shanghai Auto Inspection, Shanghai Auto Inspection is the only third-party national motor vehicle product testing agency in East China and South China, and the company has obtained all national authorizations for automobile and motorcycle products, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Announcement of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement") testing, the 3C certification testing of vehicles and parts products of the State Certification and Accreditation Commission.

According to reports, the use of different standards has a direct impact on the test results. Shanghai Auto Inspection issued a report extrusion test deformation of 30%, and in the new national standard for the single battery test deformation requirement is 15%, 30% of the deformation is for the battery pack or system test method. Thermal runaway tests are also for battery packs or systems rather than battery cells. The new national standard also canceled the acupuncture test.

"This is not to say that the new national standard is not as strict as the old national standard." The relevant person in charge of the Test and Verification Branch of the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance pointed out that the national mandatory standard cancels the single needle punch test and reduces the deformation of the single body extrusion test, mainly considering the universality of the standard, and focusing on tightening the safety requirements at the system level, and the test project is closer to the actual use scenario of the whole vehicle.

Today, the dispute between the two sides has been brought to justice. So, will a controversial test report be accepted by the judiciary? Xu Que, director of the Electrochemical Testing Department of Shanghai Institute of Chemical Industry Testing Co., Ltd., told reporters that major safety accidents in power batteries will be set up by relevant departments to investigate the special investigation team. "In general product quality disputes, the judicial department will check the standard certification of the producer, and if there is a dispute, the product should also be present by both parties and tested using the standards and projects recognized by both parties."

Non-compliance persists

In recent years, frequent safety accidents have caused people to worry about the safety of power batteries, and third-party testing agencies have been placed high hopes by the market in ensuring product quality.

However, many interviewees said that the testing agency inspects the samples sent by the client for inspection, and the representativeness and authenticity of the samples sent for inspection are the responsibility of the client. This means that there is a certain "activity space" in this. For example, testing and certification to consume a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, power battery companies based on the rapid listing of products demand, it may breed "forged product test reports" "first out of the test report and then supplement the test" and other speculative behavior.

In September 2018, the State Administration of Market Supervision severely cracked down on chaos such as "buying and selling certificates, and going through key certification links".

However, there are still institutions in the market that claim to have "fast channels for power battery inspection". One of the staff members surnamed Zhang said that they have more than ten years of senior testing personnel who have worked in the national testing agency in the automotive field, have a deep understanding of various types of testing task processes, and have contacts with major domestic testing institutions, and can issue a national compulsory test certification report as soon as 10 days. "Especially good at solving complex problems such as limited time and unqualified product tests."

It is understood that for compulsory certification products, enterprises should apply for product quality certification to the certification body authorized by the competent department, and after the certification is qualified, the certification body will issue a product quality certification certificate or report. That is to say, through the mandatory test of the state, it is the premise of the power battery flowing to the market. At present, there are about 30 power battery testing institutions in the country that have the mandatory testing qualification of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's vehicle "Announcement".

Xu Que admitted to reporters that at present, the vast majority of testing institutions can objectively and fairly issue inspection results or certification certificates in accordance with relevant standards, but it is not excluded that individual small institutions have non-compliant operations.

Security needs to be checked by the whole industry chain

It is worth noting that even if it passes the standardized test certification, it does not mean that the power battery product is completely free of problems in terms of safety and reliability.

"The power battery has passed a series of inspection and certification projects, and the probability of fire and explosion is very low, but it is not impossible." In practical applications, the misuse and abuse environment of the power battery system is likely to be worse than the test conditions. For example, traffic accidents that cause serious deformation of battery packs, external fires that last for tens of minutes, etc. Industry insiders further told reporters that in addition to external factors, the lithium battery industry chain includes raw material suppliers, battery cell manufacturers, turnkey manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers and end users, and any problem in any link will lead to accidents.

The above-mentioned people stressed that there is no absolute safety in the manufacturing industry, especially the power battery is still a new industry, and it is necessary to improve product quality through technological progress and other means. Overall, power battery safety is a system issue, and testing and certification is only one of the links. Strengthening product quality, spot check supervision, etc., are important means to improve product safety.

Xu Que said that the main body responsible for product quality should be the producer. The testing agency is only responsible for the incoming sample, and when the enterprise sends the sample, it should select a representative product for testing. The certification body should also check the product to ensure that the product sent for inspection is consistent with the product produced. In his view, product testing and certification should adopt the concept of full life cycle, from the early stage of product concept or design to carry out certification evaluation work, and extend the work to the certification of parts and components to provide more comprehensive quality assurance.

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Produced by | China Energy News (ID:cnenergy)

Editor 丨Li Huiying

Trainee Editor | Li Zemin