The full-day workshop was convened as part of the US-China Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program (SCCP) and was hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) served as organizers. Several private-sector sponsors also supported the event, including Qualcomm, as a Diamond Sponsor, and Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and Underwriters Laboratories (UL), as Platinum Sponsors.

CATARC gave a presentation on its development of a standardization roadmap for electric vehicles, as did ANSI on the Standardization Roadmap for Electric Vehicles – Version 2.0 (May 2013) and Progress Report (November 2014) produced by the Institute’s Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP). Speakers addressed a range of topics including vehicle and battery safety, charging infrastructure safety and interoperability, wireless charging, and fire protection and emergency response. Several representatives of ANSI EVSP member organizations were featured in the program. A half-day experts meeting the following day solidified commitments to ongoing information sharing and cooperation.

In opening remarks, ANSI president and CEO Joe Bhatia noted that both countries have made substantial investments in seeing the EV market succeed. He emphasized that the goal was “to work together to adopt and use common, globally accepted standards and conformance programs that will facilitate market access and trade for US companies exporting to China, and Chinese companies entering the US market.”

“In other words, we must work collaboratively to avoid coming up with conflicting solutions that increase costs for industry, costs which ultimately are passed on to the consumer.

—Joe Bhatia

The workshop was the fourteenth of twenty to be held under the US-China SCCP over a three-year period in China. The aim of the program, which is sponsored by USTDA and implemented by ANSI, is to provide a forum where US and Chinese industry and government representatives can facilitate US-China technical exchanges, information sharing, and cooperation on standards, conformity assessment, and technical regulations.