China's draft battery-management standard adds a test against unauthorised memory access
A revision of the national recommended standard for electric-vehicle battery management systems, open for comment until 9 January, would require a BMS to refuse unauthorised commands to read or alter data in its memory.
The electric vehicle subcommittee of China’s National Automotive Standardisation Technical Committee published a draft revision of GB/T 38661, the recommended national standard for battery management systems in electric vehicles, for comment on 10 November, according to its notice on the standards platform hosted by CATARC. The consultation list gives a comment period ending on 9 January 2027.
Among its changes, the draft adds a memory-data security requirement: tested under a new method, the battery management system must prevent unauthorised reading or tampering of data in its memory (page 12). According to the explanatory note, the test sends commands agreed between the vehicle maker and the BMS manufacturer, which must be executed, and illegal commands, which must be refused for both reads and modifications.
The note cites clause 7.4.4 of GB 44495-2024, the vehicle cybersecurity technical requirements, which calls for defences protecting critical data stored in the vehicle from unauthorised deletion and modification (page 12). It says three organisations ran the test and that all samples had memory-data protection (page 28).
The draft also adds communication-performance requirements and revises fault-diagnosis requirements, alongside environmental and electrical tests.
Get the month in vehicle software by email: The SDV Sector Brief ↓