Tesla Motors announced that the battery pack that will power the Tesla Roadster has been deemed safe by the United Nations Safety Requirements. The rigorous U.N. Testing Protocol for the Tesla Roadster ESS (Energy Storage System) included: altitude simulation, thermal cycling, vibration, shock and external short circuit.
Tesla Press Release:
Battery Pack for Tesla Roadster Deemed Safe for Delivery in Production Vehicles per U.N. Testing Protocol
Tesla Motors 2008 Roadster ESS is Among the Largest Lithium Ion Battery Packs to Meet Stringent United Nations Safety Requirements
Tesla Motors, a manufacturer of high-performance electric cars, has met the U.N. safety requirements for delivery of the Tesla Roadster’s battery pack for use in consumer vehicles. In demonstrating the safety of the large format battery pack, Tesla Motors has achieved another major milestone on the way to commencing deliveries of the 2008 Tesla Roadster to customers this fall. The U.N Testing Protocol for the Roadster’s ESS (Energy Storage System) included: (1) Altitude simulation, (2) Thermal cycling, (3) Vibration, (4) Shock, and (5) External short circuit.
The ESS development program, which to date has spanned over three years, has included testing safety at both the micro (cell) and macro (module) levels. At the cell level, each of the 6,831 individual lithium ion cells inside the Tesla Roadster’s ESS has passed both UN and UL 1642 testing criteria. ESS development and testing was performed by the Tesla Energy Group within Tesla Motors. The advanced technologies developed over the last three years have positioned the Tesla Energy Group to develop and manufacture battery packs for third parties.
“In bringing an entirely new type of electric
vehicle to market, we have focused closely on safety as one of the primary considerations in the design process,” said Martin Eberhard, CEO of Tesla Motors. “Rigorous testing by third party experts and regulatory bodies has provided Tesla Motors with invaluable technical feedback and a system of independent checks and balances. This exhaustive process has helped to ensure that the Roadster’s ESS has been critically examined both by our own engineers, as well as by objective experts outside of Tesla’s development team. As we begin final preparations for starting production of the 2008 Tesla Roadster, this milestone represents the culmination of many years of innovation,
development, and progress in making safe and reliable electric vehicles that can replace gasoline engine cars. The purely electric car that was once dismissed as a vision of a distant future has now become a reality that drivers can expect to see on the road in the coming months.”
