14. The expert from the United States of America, on behalf of the co-sponsors (China, Japan, European Union and the members of IWG GTR No. 20, Phase 2) reported on the progress of the IWG meeting of EVS-GTR, Phase 2. GRSP was informed that the last session had been held from 3 to 5 December in Berlin, Germany. He reported that the meeting had been well attended by more than seventy representatives from the following contracting parties: Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United States of America, EC, as well as many representatives from the type-approving authorities, academia, standard-setting organizations and the industry, both individually or as part of the OICA team. He added that thermal propagation and methods of initiation in the battery system were thoroughly examined and discussed, however, the optimal method had not yet been agreed upon. He informed GRSP on the availability of two methods: thermo-based triggering method (TRIM), which was developed by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada and the nail penetration method, developed by Japan. He clarified that his administration questioned the appropriateness of the methods based on their intrusiveness into the battery. Flammability, corrosiveness and toxicity of vented gas were presented on by several contracting parties and discussed by the group. He informed GRSP that the Rechargeable Electric Energy Storage System (REESS) vibration profile was discussed, and the disagreement was on the perception of this issue: is the GTR overreaching by setting requirements for an issue that was not seen as being related to safety but rather to durability or reliability. He also added that water immersion and the need to address it was discussed, as it had been identified by several contracting parties, but given the absence of real-life data that would demonstrate the specific safety need and therefore justify such requirement, no consensus has been reached. In addition, he clarified that IWG was cautioned not to regulate for instances of natural disasters and which could result in introducing requirements for EVs that would be more stringent than those for conventional Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) vehicles.

15. He underlined that protection during AC and DC charging was presented by OICA, and that IWG had also examined the overcurrent requirement and best approach to testing. Finally, he informed GRSP that the group had decided to take a brief pause in order to collect and absorb the new information and finish the research that several contracting parties and stakeholders were engaged in, by delaying its mid-spring meeting until late May 2020 and hold the other meeting in November 2020. The next meeting of IWG will be held in the week of May 24 in Tokyo.