Gasgoo.com (Shanghai December 15) - The China Automotive Technology and Research Center is in the process of developing new safety standards for electric vehicles based on head-on crash tests, the Beijing Times reported today. Future research on side and rear crashes will be based on the data they retrieve now. The CATRC expects to unveil a full set of EV safety standards within two years.

The chargeable batteries constitute a serious safety risk for EV drivers and passengers, Chief Engineer for the CATRC's automobile standards research Zhou Rong said. Furthermore, according to Mr. Zhou, the standards currently in place are both overly simplistic and impractical. One of their biggest failings is that they only deal with full head-on crashes, something which doesn't fully put EV design into consideration.

According to various media reports, government bodies have already finished crash tests for dozens of electric vehicles. According to Mr. Zhou, the data will be of great use in forming a complete set of EV safety standards. Several standards regarding EVs, especially those in regard to battery technology, are in the process of review by government agencies.