With the vigorous development of the global electric travel market, as an important manufacturing and consumer market in Southeast Asia, the changes of its technical regulations directly affect the strategic layout of China's export enterprises. Recently, the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam officially issued Circular No.13/2026/TT-BXD, and established a brand-new national standard for power batteries for electric motorcycles and mopeds-QCVN31: 2026/BXD. The standard will be enforced on October 9, 2026, and will replace the QCVN 91:2024/BGTVT standard issued by the former Ministry of Communications.
Core changes of new standards
1. Clarify the applicable product range: The new regulations are clearly applicable to lead-acid batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries and lithium-ion batteries, which has achieved comprehensive coverage of the current mainstream power battery types of electric motorcycles and avoided the ambiguity in the application of standards.
2. The safety threshold has been greatly improved: this is the most striking change in this revision. In the past, "fire" was usually judged by "flame visible to the naked eye"; The new standard changes it to "produce smoke or flame". This means that any smoke phenomenon during the test will be directly judged as unqualified. This adjustment has greatly improved the safety requirements of batteries under extreme conditions such as overcharge, short circuit and needle stick, forcing enterprises to optimize battery management system (BMS) and thermal runaway protection design.
3. Strict upgrade of performance indicators
◆ Voltage: not less than the nominal value;
◆ Actual capacity of lithium battery: it must be ≥ 100% of the nominal capacity.
This regulation directly hits the pain point of the industry's "virtual standard capacity", requiring enterprises to ensure the authenticity and consistency of product performance and prevent "shrinking" batteries from entering the market.
4. The test environment is closer to reality: in order to simulate the more severe use environment, the new regulations adjust the brine concentration of immersion test to 3.5% ~ 5% (the original standard is usually a fixed value of 3.5%). Higher salinity means stronger conductivity and corrosiveness, which puts forward higher requirements for the sealing structure and waterproof grade (IP grade) of the battery case, especially for testing the reliability of the battery in rainy season or coastal high humidity environment.
Compulsory time and transitional arrangements
◆ Full enforcement: From October 9, 2026, all batteries for electric motorcycles produced, assembled and imported in Vietnam must meet the QCVN 31:2026/BXD standard.
◆ Transitional protection: batteries that have been submitted for application before October 9, 2026 and are being tested can continue to complete the certification according to the old standard QCVN 91:2024/BGTVT; The obtained VR certificate (based on the old standard) can still be used normally within the validity period, and there is no need to renew it immediately.
◆ Special reminder: The transition period does not apply to new applications. If the enterprise products are planned to be exported or listed after October 9, please be sure to start the testing and certification process of the new standard to avoid the interruption of shipment due to the lag of certification.
Corporate compliance advice
1. Re-evaluate the battery cell selection and nominal strategy: lithium battery enterprises should focus on checking whether the actual capacity of existing products can reach 100% nominal value. It is suggested to conduct a baseline test in advance, and adjust the battery pack or reduce the nominal capacity when necessary to ensure the data is true and compliant.
2. Upgrade the safety design and strengthen the BMS capability: Because "smoke production is unqualified", the battery management system (BMS) must have stronger ability of early warning and protection, especially in the suppression of thermal runaway in the early stage of overtemperature and short circuit, which needs targeted optimization.
3. Strengthen the design of flooding protection: In view of the new requirement of increasing the salt water concentration to 5%, it is suggested to re-verify the battery sealing structure, upgrade the IP protection level if necessary, and carry out simulation tests in advance to ensure waterproof reliability.
4. Start the new standard testing and certification: It is recommended to contact a testing and certification institution with Vietnamese qualification as soon as possible to start the full set of testing of QCVV 31:2026/BXD. At the same time, update the technical documents and labels synchronously to ensure that the product information is consistent with the new standard number.
Warm tips
The release of the new battery regulation QCVN 31:2026/BXD for Vietnamese electric motorcycles is not only a test of product quality, but also a catalyst to promote the transformation of the industry from "price competition" to "value competition". ZRLK suggested that relevant enterprises should lay out the layout in advance and start testing as soon as possible to ensure that the products meet the latest requirements of Vietnam's laws and regulations and avoid unnecessary trade losses. Our company has a professional technical team and rich experience in product testing, which can provide real-time compliance interpretation and professional technical support for enterprises, and help enterprises to smoothly clear the Vietnamese market. If you need it, please feel free to contact us, and our engineers will serve you at the first time!
