China's EV and battery safety regulations became mandatory in July 2026 for all new EV type approvals. GB 38031-2025 covers the traction battery, GB 18384-2025 the whole vehicle. Models already approved have until July 2027.
What becomes mandatory in China today shapes the global benchmark tomorrow.
GB 38031-2025 alone covers 7 single-cell tests and 17 pack or system level tests. Five of the changes matter more than the rest.
1. 120-minute thermal containment (GB 38031)
No fire and no explosion for two full hours after a triggered thermal runaway, with every measurement point monitored against a 60°C threshold. The 2020 edition allowed fire after a 5-minute warning. That 5-minute window is now the alarm requirement, not the pass criterion.
2. Occupant gas thresholds (GB 38031)
Vented gas and smoke must not harm occupants. The pass condition is the effect on the occupant, not the design intent. Vent path, seal architecture and cabin ingress move into the compliance file.
3. One-touch power cut-off (GB 18384)
A driver-operable device that cuts propulsion system power in a single action, required while the vehicle is stationary and neither charging nor discharging, independent of the main control software. This one sits in the whole-vehicle standard, not the battery standard.
4. 150 J bottom impact (GB 38031)
A 30 mm steel ball impact head, 150 J of impact energy per strike, three strikes to the pack bottom plate. No leakage, no enclosure rupture, no fire, no explosion, insulation resistance retained. Aimed squarely at CTP and CTB architectures where the pack doubles as structure.
5. 300-cycle aged short-circuit test (GB 38031)
External short circuit applied to cells aged through 300 fast-charge cycles, 20-80% SOC within 15 minutes each. Certification now has to survive a degraded cell, not a factory-fresh one.
If you are engineering batteries to meet yesterday's minimum baselines, you are already behind tomorrow's reality.
