Recently, it was learned that UL LLC, the Illinois-based safety certification group, will run its first global battery laboratory for power and energy storage in Changzhou in April 2020.

Keith Williams, UL's president and chief executive officer, said Changzhou is a center of excellence in China for building electric vehicles, batteries and chargers. It is therefore a natural choice of the company to locate its operations closer to its clients.

Under the plan, UL's new lab in Changzhou will provide a clutch of safety tests and solutions. These will include the following: battery safety design, battery performance and reliability verification, battery management system functional safety, vehicle-to-grid charging solutions, grid integration, battery ladder utilization, energy storage systems and functional safety services to China's new energy vehicle manufacturers and power battery makers.

UL entered the Chinese market in 1980, and has so far provided certification services to over 22,000 Chinese manufacturers across the country. With its certification services and expertise in different fields, it assists domestic manufacturers from different industries export their products to global markets. Most of its work supports Chinese exports to North America, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia.

The US company currently has over 14,000 employees operating in more than 143 countries, mainly distributed by its connected technologies business unit and retail and industry business unit. Earlier in June, UL announced the acquisition of kVA, a US-based technical and management consulting company that specializes in training and advising automotive developers and suppliers on the safety of autonomous vehicles and electrification of automotive systems.