The informal group was chaired by the German Ministry of Transport and supported by the World Association of Automobile Manufacturers (OICA) as secretariat.

The informal group started with a “blank white paper.” The decision where and how to incorporate the new requirements into the existing legislation should be done after the requirements are defined.

This approach was chosen because of the advantage to focus on the necessary requirements without being restricted by any interface to existing legislations.

19.4.2 First meeting of the informal group in Bonn

During the first meeting of the informal group the Terms of References (ToR) been finalized based on a proposal from Germany. The agreed ToR (GRSP-48-01 rev.1) can be found on the website of the UN in Geneva.

The informal group discussed the topics to be considered. As a first result the following was agreed to be considered:

(A) Requirements of the first priority:

 Vibration

 Thermal shock cycling

 Humidity/moisture exposure

 Mechanical shock

 Fire resistance

 External short circuit

 Overcharge protection

 Over-discharge protection

 Over-temperature protection

 Protection against direct contact

 Emission

 Over-current charge

 Short circuit (internal)

(B) Additional requirements:

 Immersion test (REESS completed under water)

 Dust

 Marking

 Electromagnetic compatibility

In addition, the structure to each topic should look like:

a. Rationale

b. Requirement

c. Conditions

d. Acceptance criteria

e. Verification

19.4.3 Second meeting of the informal group in Paris

At the beginning of the second meeting the members of the group agreed that it should be the goal to get a REESS approved as a component or together with the vehicle. Furthermore, the defined requirements should not consider a special chemistry of the battery such as lithium-ion.

Based on the structure agreed at the first meeting, the experts proposed requirements to be incorporated at different parts of the document. These proposals resulted in a working document for the second meeting.

A main part of the working document dealt with the idea to incorporate the existing requirements of UN 38.3 where possible.

UN 38.3 stays for a UN Manual “Test and Criteria” Part III, defining requirements for lithium batteries/cells, which they have been verified to fulfill. If they do not, their transport is not allowed.

Based on the discussions during the meeting it was agreed that the following topics should be finalized by different groups of experts:

 Vibration

 Thermal shock and cycling

 Dewing (temperature change): still under discussion whether requirements are necessary

 Mechanical impact

❍ Mechanical shock

❍ Mechanical integrity

 Fire resistance

 External short circuit

 Overcharge protection

 Over-discharge protection

 Over-temperature protection

 Protection against direct contact

 Emissions

Furthermore, the experts agreed that following two topics have no longer been considered because they are captured by the other topics:

 Over-current charge and discharge

 Short circuit (internal)

19.4.4 Third meeting of the informal group in Boras (Sweden)

The proposals elaborated by the different groups of experts became the basis for a new working document for the third meeting. This document was discussed during the meeting.

The outcome of the meeting was further improvement to the requirements for the different topics of the first priority. It was also agreed by the group of experts that “dewing” no longer has to be considered.

Furthermore, the following two topics were added to the possible “Additional Requirements” list:

 Telltale

 Storage of REESS at low and high temperature

In addition, a list of action items for different experts/expert groups was compiled.

19.4.5 Fourth meeting of the informal group in Mainz Kastel (Germany)

Also for the fourth meeting of the group, a working paper based on the outcome of the action items of the third meeting was compiled. During the meeting, the requirements were discussed and improved. The following two annexes were added:

 Annex 1: Measurement of isolation resistance

 Annex 2: Dimension and technical data of firebricks

In the list of possible additional requirements, the group agreed that “Telltale” and “Storage of REESS at low and high temperature” no longer has to be considered.

After the fourth meeting, the requirements had been elaborated in a way that it was time to discuss how to incorporate them in the existing legal framework. This was also important because of the idea raised during meetings at the UN in Geneva to develop a “Global Technical Regulation” (GTR) for EVS. As soon as such a work started, it had the consequence to stop the REESS work under the 1958 agreement. Therefore the experts of the group decided to amend UN R 100. Amending an existing regulation will not take as much time compared to passing a new regulation that has to be agreed upon by the relevant groups in Geneva (GRSP and WP.29).

19.4.6 Fifth meeting of the informal group in Madrid

During the fifth meeting the group of experts discussed a first proposal to amend Regulation 100. In this proposal, the requirements were divided into two parts. Part I (Chapter 5) contained the existing requirements of a vehicle with regard to its electrical safety. This is the part dealing with the so-called “in-use” requirements for electric vehicles. Part II (Chapter 6) contained the new requirements for rechargeable energy storage system with regard to its safety. There the requirements were defined that a REESS has to fulfill to get an approval under Regulation 100. The necessary tests to be executed are described in new Annexes 8–8I.

At the meeting in Madrid it was also agreed to change the acronym RESS for “Rechargeable Energy Storage System” to REESS. This was necessary because of in Regulation 92 the acronym RESS had already been used. There the acronym stood for replacement exhaust silencing systems for motorcycles, mopeds, and three-wheeled vehicles.

Further, it was agreed that for the upcoming GRSG session in December 2011 an informal document showing the status of the amendment of Regulation 100 would be sent to Geneva.

19.4.7 Sixth meeting of the informal group in Brussels

At the beginning of the sixth meeting, the chair informed the attendees that the status report based on the informal document 6 for the 50th session of GRSP was well received. In addition GRSP expressed their expectation for a so-called working document for the 51st session in May 2012.

To be able to send a working document to the 51st session of GRSP the experts of RESS finalized the technical input for the amendment of Regulation 100. The basis therefore was the outcome of the action items defined during the fifth meeting.

At the end of the sixth meeting the experts agreed that the secretary of the expert group should compile a final document to become the 02 series of Regulation 100.

19.4.8 Inforcement of the battery safety requirements

For the 51st session of GRSP in May 2012 the final document of the RESS group became the official working document ECE/TRANS/WP.29/GRSP/2012/10. Before the GRSP session took place, the experts of the RESS group recognized that some improvements to the final document were necessary. Therefore, the chair of the group sent an informal document (GRSP-51-02) to Geneva amending the final document. In addition, a document with the text of the complete 02 series of Regulation 100 was sent as an informal document (GRSP-51-11) to Geneva.

Based on the above-mentioned documents the 51st session of GRSP adopted the proposed amendment of Regulation 100 and sent it to WP.29 for their November 2012 session for adoption.

During their November session, Working Party 29 at the UN in Geneva adopted the amendment of Regulation 100.

Considering that Transitional Provisions were agreed by WP.29 the 02 series of Regulation were planned as follows: