Safety considerations have been included in the development of the technology for electric and hybrid (heat engine plus electrical propulsion) vehicles. Although a number of safety requirements for conventional vehicles are eliminated with this new technology, there are safety issues that are unique and require special safety design considerations.

This paper describes the development of the safety requirements of electrical propulsion vehicles including the design, test, and evaluation results of impact testing. The safety design and testing results of battery compartments and containment, flywheels, and vehicle composite structures and hybrid technology are described for three different test vehicles--ETV-1, ETV-2, and HTV-1.

The unique safety requirements of electric vehicles such as electrical shock, battery-related safety, and operation safety are described.