New laws introduced in China aim to improve the safety of electric vehicle (EV) battery packs, including a “no fire, no explosion” requirement that focuses on preventing battery fires and resulting hazards.
Given China’s dominance in electric vehicle battery supply chains and their spread across different car brands, the regulations will bring global benefits Tesla, BYD And Toyota.
Accordingly CarNewsChinathe new rules come into effect on January 1, 2026 and they “require automakers to optimize battery structures and thermal management systems to improve the overall safety of new energy vehicles.”
“New Energy Vehicles” is a term used in China to encompass all electrified vehicles, including hybrid and electric vehicles.
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The “No Fire, No Explosion” component requires battery packs to meet stricter standards and not catch fire or explode under test conditions.
A fire at General Motors’ Advance Design Studio in California in October 2025 is believed to have been caused by lithium-ion batteries, while several fires aboard ships have been attributed to electric vehicles.
In July 2025, a major transportation company banned electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) from its cargo ships for safety reasons after a rival company lost a ship carrying electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles between China and Mexico.
The new laws require battery packs to withstand higher temperatures without catching fire.
This is intended to prevent both fires and events such as “thermal runaway,” where electric vehicle fires reach temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius, making them difficult to contain and extinguish.
Electric vehicle battery fires also produce toxic fumes, posing a further threat to firefighters and the public. The new laws require the fumes to be contained to protect occupants from them in the event of an incident.
Changes intended to improve the overall safety of electric vehicles also include more stringent crash testing.
This follows China’s recent ban on Tesla-style electrically operated retractable door handles. All new designs must have mechanical actuation so that they can function even when the vehicle has no power.
Battery regulations arguably have greater global benefits, as China is by far the world’s largest supplier of batteries to the automotive industry.
China’s contemporary Amperex technology (Catl) produces more than a third of the world’s car batteries and supplies Tesla, the world’s best-selling pure electric car maker in 2024.
Australian supply of Tesla models comes from the factory in Shanghai, China, near which one of CATL’s battery factories is located. Both Tesla and CATL have factories in Berlin, Germany.
The second-largest battery maker (by market share) is BYD, which sold more vehicles than Tesla worldwide in 2024, although that number includes both electric and hybrid vehicles.
BYD, which has a history of making cell phone batteries, among other things, makes its own “blade” batteries that it says can withstand shock and are more stable (i.e., won’t ignite) than competitors.
The world’s top-selling brand, Toyota – often criticized for slower adoption of electric vehicles compared to its rivals – plans to open a battery plant in China in 2027.
MORE: China bans Tesla-style door handles
