Testing & Safety Developed 2025 · C15 5 min Recording available on request
Future-Ready EV Battery Testing: Technology, AI Diagnostics and Workforce Strategy for TIC Multinationals
EV battery testing has moved from a routine quality check to a strategic function in the electric vehicle industry chain. As power batteries turn from ordinary components into high-risk energy systems under tightening regulation, independent testing, inspection and certification services now sit at the centre of safety, lifespan and compliance decisions. This case study follows a global testing, inspection and certification (TIC) company as it plans where and how to build battery testing capability over the next decade.
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The Strategic Problem for a Global TIC Company
The company operates laboratories in roughly 26 countries and originally specialised in whole-vehicle, component and functional safety testing. It has recently started building EV battery testing capability, first in China and then expanding to Europe and North America. The complication is capital: the internal investment committee approved only part of the requested battery testing budget, forcing the automotive business line to make trade-offs between a few deep capability centres, several regional nodes and investment in digital and AI platforms. The case is framed around four questions covering the market landscape, the evolution of testing demand and supply, the integration of physical testing with AI tools, and how to plan capability and talent under limited capital.
Reading the Market and the Competitive Landscape
Global electric vehicle sales reached nearly 17 million units by the end of 2024, about 20 percent of passenger vehicle sales, and are expected to approach 39 million units by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate near 30 percent. Every new vehicle platform and every change in battery structure or chemistry triggers a fresh round of verification, and every retired battery moving into energy storage or recycling needs new safety and lifespan assessment. That creates durable demand-side growth for testing services.
The supply side splits into three groups. Multinational TIC companies such as Intertek, SGS, Bureau Veritas, the various TUV organisations, Applus, UL Solutions and Dekra run accredited laboratories across many countries and issue reports accepted by regulators and investors. National and regional technical centres, including China's SMVIC and CATARC, hold an irreplaceable position in local homologation and standard-setting. In-house laboratories built by automakers and cell producers such as Tesla, BYD and CATL are fast and flexible but not independent. Third-party TICs compete on two things: supplying capabilities others lack, such as large-scale abuse testing and installation-level fire and propagation testing, and providing auditable, independent evidence for regulators, financiers and cross-border projects.
Technology, AI Diagnostics and the Talent Constraint
The case argues that traditional physical testing should be combined with emerging scientific tools and AI techniques rather than replaced by them. Accreditation to standards such as ISO IEC 17025 remains the foundation, but the differentiator is the ability to integrate requirements from different regions into one coherent test plan and to layer AI-enabled diagnostics and data infrastructure on top of physical labs. That improves efficiency and yields deeper insight from the same tests.
Talent is the binding constraint alongside capital. Local operators need the right qualifications, competencies and experience to perform regulated work in each market, and building that workforce takes years. The team stresses a disciplined view of capital and operating expenditure for every laboratory, so that investment maps to genuine market demand rather than ambition. The firm's practical entry point was used-battery and second-life testing, an area where private TICs gained early traction while brand-new cells were still handled by internal and national labs, with brand-new battery testing as the next expansion step.
What It Means for the Testing Industry
The broader lesson is that testing capacity should follow the geography of battery and vehicle manufacturing. Asia-Pacific, led by China, concentrates most production and therefore most testing demand, while Europe is more regulation-driven and North America forms a second tier. A TIC multinational cannot fund deep capability everywhere at once, so it must sequence deep centres, lighter regional nodes and shared digital platforms. Independence and accreditation remain the core assets that internal labs cannot replicate.
Key Takeaways
EV battery testing demand grows with every new platform, chemistry change and retired battery, making it a structurally expanding service line.
The market divides into multinational TICs, national technical centres and in-house manufacturer labs, each with different strengths.
Independent, accredited testing to standards such as ISO IEC 17025 is the durable advantage that manufacturer-owned labs cannot match.
AI diagnostics and data platforms should augment physical testing, improving efficiency and insight rather than replacing hands-on methods.
Capital and skilled talent are the two binding constraints, forcing trade-offs between deep capability centres, regional nodes and digital investment.
Second-life and used-battery testing offered a practical entry point before scaling into brand-new cell testing worldwide.
Disclaimer: This case study was developed and presented by BatteryMBA participants as part of the Case Study Track. Views, analysis and recommendations are the authors' own. BatteryMBA does not take responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the content and it should not be relied upon as investment, engineering or legal advice.
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