Battery Safety and Abuse Testing

Element provides comprehensive safety and abuse testing including internal short circuit evaluation, overcharge testing, crush and impact assessment, nail penetration simulation, and thermal runaway propagation analysis. Our advanced capabilities subject your batteries to environmental, mechanical, and electrical stress conditions - including intentional stress conditions far beyond normal operating parameters. This gives you valuable data about how your batteries perform in extreme scenarios and helping you identify potential safety issues early in development.

• Internal short circuit testing
• Overcharge evaluation
• Crush and impact assessment
• Nail penetration simulation
• Thermal runaway propagation analysis

You need a testing partner who can handle every aspect of your battery testing requirements. Element tests batteries for electric (EV) and Hybrid-electric (HEV) vehicles, industrial equipment, medical devices, consumer electronics, aerospace applications (EVTOL), and outdoor power products. Our specialized facilities evaluate various cell types and chemistries across industries, providing you with comprehensive data to support safety claims and regulatory compliance. We examine both small-format cells and large battery assemblies to give you complete confidence in your products.

• Lithium-ion batteries and cells
• Nickel system batteries
• Secondary cells with alkaline electrolytes
• Secondary cells with non-acid electrolytes
• Portable sealed batteries

You need clear data to make critical safety decisions. As your single-source provider for comprehensive battery safety and abuse testing, we apply standardized and customized test protocols to identify potential issues early in development. We evaluate batteries under conditions that far exceed normal operating parameter, providing reliable performance data and safety assessments that help meet regulatory requirements. This approach helps you design safer, more reliable products that perform well even in extreme environments—making them more attractive to customers.

• Abuse response analysis
• Safety parameter evaluation
• Early hazard identification
• Design issue detection
• Certification support

Battery abuse testing typically falls into four categories, but tests can be combined to mimic specific conditions. Test methods or protocols can be customized to meet your needs:

• Environmental stress: including very high or very low temperature (down to -40⁰C and up to +300⁰C), humidity, high altitude or vacuum, overpressure, salt or freshwater immersion, thermal splash shock, thermal shock, hot oven, or accelerated rate calorimetry.
• Mechanical stress: including vibration, mechanical shock, crushing, nail penetration, impact, free fall, bend testing, and end crushing.
• Electrical stress: including over-voltage, under-voltage, over-current during charge, short circuit during discharge, and forced discharge.
• Intentional thermal runaway testing

You need clear data to make critical safety decisions. As your single-source provider for comprehensive battery safety and abuse testing, we apply standardized and customized test protocols to identify

Our global network of purpose-built facilities offers the largest battery testing capacity in North America, delivering accurate and comprehensive results that you can trust. Our state-of-the-art equipment allows us to simulate real-world conditions and extreme abuse scenarios with exceptional accuracy, giving you confidence in your battery's safety performance.

• Specialized testing chambers
• Thermal monitoring systems
• High-precision measurement tools
• Advanced data collection technology
• Abuse testing facilities

With battery testing labs across the US, Europe and South Korea, we provide global access to our expert capabilities. Find your nearest connected technologies testing hub on our Locations Page.