Current events in vehicle battery safety

In order to avoid learning of battery safety issues "by accident" a project has been undertaken to determine the hazards and risk associated with electric vehicle competitions and develop standards and requirements to minimize risk. The Safety of Electric Racing Vehicles (SERV) Project is a joint effort of Arizona Public Service Company, the US Department of Energy, and other electric vehicle industry sponsors. The SERV Project has developed a systematic evaluation of hazards and risk associated with electric vehicle operation. This analysis focuses on the requirements necessary to establish a safe electric vehicle infrastructure. The SERV evaluation process begins with the identification of hazards associated with electric vehicles. This identification includes electrical, chemical, fire and collision hazards. The risks associated with these hazards are then evaluated, as is the uncertainty with which the risk is known. The methodology used to perform the hazards assessment and risk/uncertainty evaluation is an adaptation of a synergistic methodology utilized in process industries to evaluate new chemical processes. Once the risk and uncertainty have been qualitatively evaluated, a ranking is performed to determine priority for development of requirements to reduce both risk and uncertainty to acceptable levels (hence increasing the assurance of safety)