Fire tests for Today’s Swiftly Evolving Energy Storage Market

As the world strives to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels—and things like electric vehicles, e-bikes, and clean energy become more commonplace—the use of batteries and energy storage systems is rising. But while these products come with a host of benefits, they also present new fire hazards and safety risks.

To minimize the risk of fires caused by batteries and energy storage systems, governments and regulators are rapidly introducing new laws, fire codes, standards, and standard revisions. Most of these regulatory changes require energy storage products to undergo some form of fire testing to remain compliant.

CSA Group’s Fire Testing experts conduct fire tests in accordance with a vast range of standards, including NFPA 855, UL 9540A, UL 2580, and UL 1973, as well as custom and EV battery-related tests. Our experienced team, and vast testing facilities, provide energy storage manufacturers with access to the fire tests they need to identify and address potential fire risks—and meet certification requirements.

CSA Group’s Battery and Energy Storage Testing Capabilities

At our large-scale thermal testing lab in Cleveland, Ohio, we have the capability to conduct extensive battery and energy storage fire tests, including:

  • UL 9540A Cell Level Testing
  • UL 9540A Module Level Testing
  • UL 9540A Unit Level Testing
  • UL 1973 Section 42 Single Cell Failure Design Tolerance Test
  • UL 2580 Section 43 Single Cell Failure Design Tolerance Test
  • ECE R100
  • ISO 6469-1

Custom Battery & Energy Storage Testing

In some instances, manufacturers of batteries and energy storage systems may require fire testing services that are not outlined in a specific standard.

In these instances, we work with the manufacturer to determine their goals and develop a scope of work to meet their unique needs. This custom testing can take many different forms, including:

Testing to measure the effectiveness of a fire suppression system on lithium-ion battery fires

There is no published standard to determine if a fire suppression system is effective on a battery fire. We can help manufacturers develop a test plan and create a report they can use to claim effectiveness for a battery fire.

Custom thermal fire testing for preliminary verification before a compliance test

In some cases, manufacturers may want to test several designs or features to see which one has the best thermal runaway performance. This type of R&D testing can be supported by our fire testing experts.

Custom battery cabinet fire testing

Some manufacturers may want to measure the effectiveness of storage containers/cabinets in containing battery fires or separating one battery fire from another when they are stored in the same container.

Custom nail penetration testing

This type of testing determines how a battery pack will react to being punctured, such as by a forklift.

Benefits of Working with CSA Group

As the energy storage market continues to grow, battery and energy storage systems (ESS) fire testing requirements will inevitably evolve in stride—requiring manufacturers to undergo new and more intense testing to achieve certification.

We help battery and ESS manufacturers mitigate the fire risks associated with such products through:

Leading Fire Testing Expertise

Our fire testing team is comprised of North America’s top experts in fire protection. The team is led by CSA Group experts who has almost two decades of experience working as a fire protection engineer, exploring numerous technical issues in material ignition and pyrolysis, smoke, gas, heat, and flame detection, water, water additives, foams, and clean agent suppression systems.

State-of-the-Art Fire Testing Lab

Our new Distributed Energy Resource Lab features a large-scale thermal fire test lab, which is capable of testing megawatt-size fires on a full EV battery or ESS battery rack sample sizes. The lab also features high voltage and current battery cyclers, a walk-in environmental chamber, high-power load banks, electrodynamic and seismic simulators, and a combined vibration and temperatures system.

Extensive Capacity

In addition to our vast internal resources, we have business relationships with many external testing labs—allowing us to further expand our testing capabilities, and provide swift and seamless service, even during high-volume periods.