With the wide application of new energy, especially in the fields of electric vehicles, smart devices and renewable energy storage, the safety and reliability of batteries have become key issues. From October 23rd to 25th, the SAE 2025 International Conference on Battery Safety and Reliability was held in Shanghai. The conference is hosted by East China University of Science and Technology, co-organized by the Key Laboratory of Advanced Battery Systems and Safety for Petroleum and Chemical Industry, and academically supported by SAE International. Centering on the theme of Safety and Reliability throughout the Battery Life Cycle, nearly 500 experts, scholars and engineers from universities, research institutes and industrial chain enterprises around the world gathered together, focusing on cutting-edge topics such as safety design, risk prevention and control, standard coordination and data-driven, sharing the latest research results and practical experiences. Not only has it enhanced China's international influence in the field of battery safety and reliability, but it has also injected new impetus into building a safer, more reliable and sustainable electric future. Our school's principal, Xuan Fuzhen, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Vice Principal Li Tao also attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Professor Luan Weiling from the School of Mechanical Engineering, the executive chairperson of the conference, presided over the opening ceremony.
Xuan Fuzhen pointed out in his speech that battery safety and reliability are key issues in energy transition and the electrification of transportation, and it is necessary to solve systemic challenges through the intersection of multiple disciplines and the collaboration of industry, academia and research. East China University of Science and Technology will continue to leverage its multi-disciplinary cross-advantages, focusing on building an innovative cooperation platform. It will not only concentrate on the bottleneck problems in the field of basic research but also closely follow the actual demands of the industrial end, striving to contribute more wisdom and strength to technological innovation and standard construction in battery safety and reliability. In his speech, Li Tao expressed the hope that through this exchange opportunity, all parties could deeply collaborate on the core issues of battery safety and reliability, strengthen the precise connection between basic research and industrial application, and facilitate the faster implementation of multi-disciplinary cross-disciplinary achievements as an important approach to solving practical problems. Liu Le, the general manager of SAE International in China, said that safety is the foundation of industrial development, and SAE is ing the construction of an international standard system including the full life cycle traceability of electric vehicle batteries. Zu Sijie, vice president and chief engineer of SAIC Motor, emphasized that engineering is responsibility, and safety management should be moved forward to the design source, supported by a data evidence chain for pre-emptive quantitative prevention.
The invited report of the conference was presided over by Professor Tu Shandong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and from East China University of Science and Technology. Professor Anna G. Stefanopoulou from the University of Michigan, USA, Fellow Jennifer Wen of the Royal Academy of Engineering of the United Kingdom, Fellow Jerry Jinyue Yan of the European Academy of Humanities and Sciences, Foreign Academician Zhang Jiujun of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Brian, Chairperson of the SAE Battery Standards Committee Engle, Jay, former vice president of Ford Asia Pacific Zhou, Professor Luan Weiling from East China University of Science and Technology, Professor Ye Shuliang from China Jiliang University, Professor Guo Xiangxin from Qingdao University, Chen Xiaobo, Chief System Safety Engineer of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, Wang Lin, Deputy General Manager of SAIC Qingtao Energy Technology Co., LTD., Song Gan, Manager of the Advanced Technology Research and Development Department of BYD Auto Industry Co., LTD., China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., LTD Thirteen experts, including the company's chief scientist Wang Fang, delivered keynote speeches at the conference, covering areas such as thermal runaway mechanisms, safety design, intelligent manufacturing, testing and evaluation, failure analysis, and standards and regulations.
The meeting reached three industry consensons, including ing pre-event prevention and early weak signal perception to become an industry standard; Build a full life cycle traceable data system to verify security in a quantitative way; Build a cross-disciplinary joint test platform to enhance the efficiency of industrial standard verification.
The roundtable forum, with the theme of Battery Safety and Reliability Assurance in the Electrification Era, was hosted by Dr. Jay Zhou. The guests attending the meeting engaged in discussions on aspects such as battery life cycle risks, fault detection and standard adaptation. It is widely believed that the current security bottleneck mainly stems from insufficient cross-stage risk identification and data transparency. Early diagnosis should be achieved through multi-scale sensing and model integration, and a predictive security management system should be established. Meanwhile, the industry needs to build a shared verification platform, drive standards with data and lead innovation with standards, and form a safety closed loop that runs through design, manufacturing, use and recycling.
The conference has set up five specialized sub-forums, with nearly a hundred experts and young scholars delivering keynote or academic reports. The topics cover battery safety management, risk assessment, material and structural innovation, thermal runaway prevention and control, life prediction and reliability modeling, etc. During the conference, an outstanding student paper competition and a paper poster selection activity were also held. Brian Engle, the co-executive chairperson of the conference and the chairperson of the SAE Battery Standards Committee, Professor Chen Haofeng from East China University of Science and Technology, and Associate Professor Han Guangshuai from Tongji University served as review experts. Fourteen postgraduate students from universities such as East China University of Science and Technology, Chongqing University, Xi 'an Jiaotong University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Beijing Institute of Technology have won awards, fully demonstrating the research potential and innovative vitality of young scholars.
The meeting unanimously agreed that research on battery safety and reliability needs to form an engineering closed loop of from model to standard, from data to evidence. Industry leaders such as SAIC Motor, CATL, BYD and XCMG actively participated. The organizers will jointly build a standard test bench, an accident mechanism database and an open data platform with international academic societies and industrial partners, laying the foundation for the next generation of high-safety energy storage systems.