Electric Vehicle Used Battery Performance Testing, Reducing Time from 40 Hours to 30 Minutes

Small and Medium Business Ombudsman "Improvement Needed to Revitalize Market"

Jubong Park, Small and Medium Business Ombudsman (Vice Minister level).
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The performance inspection time for reused energy storage systems (ESS) that recycle electric vehicle waste batteries is expected to be shortened from 40 hours to 30 minutes.

On the 1st, the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman held the 'S.O.S. Talk SME Meeting' with the Gyeongbuk Regional Headquarters of the Small and Medium Business Corporation. S.O.S Talk is a joint meeting held since 2015 by the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman and the Small and Medium Business Corporation to resolve regulatory difficulties faced by local small and medium venture businesses. It is held 14 to 16 times annually.

This meeting, targeting small and medium venture businesses in the Gyeongbuk region, was attended by about 20 people including Ombudsman Park Ju-bong (vice minister level), Ombudsman Support Team Leader Eom Jin-yeop, Director of Corporate Support Headquarters at the Small and Medium Business Corporation Woo Young-hwan, Gyeongbuk Regional Headquarters Director Lee Bu-hee, and six representatives of small and medium venture businesses in the Gyeongbuk region.

At the meeting, Company A stated, "Current regulations require checking the KC certification mark for batteries and power conversion devices of reused energy storage systems (ESS)," adding, "The problem is that there are no KC certification test standards for reused batteries, so the performance inspection takes too much time, making market activation difficult."

Company A further suggested, "While we agree on the necessity of KC certification to activate reused batteries and strengthen safety management, please establish faster performance inspection methods, such as utilizing data to shorten inspection time."

According to the industry, waste batteries collected from electric vehicles with 70-80% or more remaining performance can be reused as ESS (Energy Storage System), etc. However, legal grounds such as safety inspection systems required for reusing waste batteries are insufficient. Therefore, the industry is requesting the introduction of faster inspection methods than the current 40-hour module or 8-hour pack methods.

Accordingly, the Ombudsman judged that the development of faster inspection methods and test standards is necessary to promote the expansion of electric vehicle distribution and related market activation, and held improvement consultations with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s National Institute of Technology and Standards, the relevant administrative agency.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is promoting the revision of the Electrical Appliances and Consumer Products Safety Control Act to establish a safety inspection system for reused batteries, and announced that it will develop a software inspection method that can reduce inspection time to a maximum of 30 minutes by the end of the year, drastically shortening inspection time.

Company B said, "When applying for government support projects, there are various documents that companies must issue and submit themselves, but since issuing institutions are not integrated, companies face difficulties in finding each issuing office, installing programs, and obtaining documents," and requested, "Please simplify administrative work for policy demanders by allowing project executing agencies to directly issue necessary documents through prior consent procedures of applicant companies."

In response, Ombudsman Park said, "As a result of consultations with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, we received a reply that submission of 12 documents, which account for one-third of the current 35 required documents, will be exempted to minimize the burden on applicant companies," adding, "Documents that can be issued through the Administrative Information Joint Use System will be immediately improved, and the introduction of document scraping programs will be promoted to reduce the burden of submission documents for applicant companies."

In addition, small and medium venture businesses participating in the meeting conveyed regulatory and difficulty issues such as ▲ application of origin certification exporter certification to corporations converted companies ▲ relaxation of standards such as lowering the minimum funding ratio of defined benefit (DB) retirement pension plans ▲ application of similar measurement inspections when there is no agency for hazardous characteristic measurement of waste.

Ombudsman Park said, "To support the continuous innovation efforts of small and medium venture businesses in the key industrial sectors of the Gyeongbuk region, we will continuously consult with related ministries and agencies and strive for improvements on the matters discussed here today."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.