The committee charged with developing electric vehicles standards has agreed on key definitions – the essential first step for an over-arching set of electric vehicle standards.

“It’s a welcome step towards achieving stakeholder consensus on how to develop a suite of electric vehicle standards which will underpin industry growth in Australia,” says Standards Australia chief executive officer Colin Blair.

The standards development process – funded by the Victorian Government – has brought direction to an industry constituting vehicle suppliers, energy networks, government agencies, local government, consumer organisations and road users.

Colin says with agreed definitions now established, the industry can work towards consensus on more fundamental issues including:

• Vehicle standards and occupant protection in a crash.
• Electrical safety focusing on reviewing and adapting current wiring standards.
• Standards for aftermarket electric vehicle conversions.
• Developing standards for recharging infrastructure will require a ‘systems’ approach rather than grouping work based on where the infrastructure will be located.
• Energy efficiency of electric vehicles.
• Batteries and their supporting supply chain.

The new Standard is an adoption of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard ISO 8713:2005, Electric road vehicles—Vocabulary, with modifications to take Australian conditions into consideration. The Main Technical Committee has also taken into account AS/NZS 3000; Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14, Australian Design Rules and UN-ECE Regulation 100.