Visitors look upon electric vehicles displayed outside an industry forum in Beijing in January. (Photo by Li Fusheng/China Daily)
Stricter requirements have also been set for electric buses due to the large number of passengers and high battery capacity in terms of collision safety, charging system and placement of the batteries.
Ma Lianhua, an auto journalist-turned industry observer in Beijing, said: "The introduction of the mandatory safety standards is necessary and timely."
He said the main concerns of customers purchasing a new energy vehicle over the past years include short ranges, charging inconvenience and safety problems.
Currently, most of electric vehicle models on the market have ranges of more than 500 km and the government is promoting the construction of charging infrastructure. There were around 1.27 million charging poles in the country as of March this year.
The top barrier against a new energy purchase then becomes safety concerns for customers, especially when they see a rise in fire-related incidents,.
Five electric vehicles have caught fire this month in China so far, including one from Nissan.
The most well-known new energy vehicle producers Tesla and Nio had vehicles catch fire last year.
A total of 33,281 new energy vehicles were recalled last year, including those from Tesla, Nio and BJEV.Among them, 6,520 were recalled due to battery problems, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Cao Guangping, a new energy vehicle researcher, said the regulations will provide better safety for customers and are expected to significantly reduce passenger casualty rates.
Cao said that there will be a positive impact on car companies, who will improve the design of battery modules. And the technology that measures the temperature of the battery core to avoid risks of fire will also be improved.
Ma said less competitive battery makers will be forced out of market while the top performers, such as CATL and BYD, will attract more attention, after the implementation of the safety standards.
China became the world's largest new energy vehicle market in 2015.It sold 1.2 million new energy vehicles last year, accounting for over half of all electric vehicle sales worldwide.
