Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles contain many types of battery systems. Adequate barriers between occupants and battery systems are necessary to provide protection from potentially harmful factors and materials within the battery system, which can cause injury to occupants of the vehicle during different crash scenarios. This SAE Recommended Practice is applicable to all Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Electric Vehicle battery designs including those in SAE J1797.

The potentially harmful factors and materials include electrical isolation integrity, electrolyte spillage and liquid interactions, and retention of the battery system. Maintaining electrical isolation of the system is important to prevent hazardous shock of vehicle occupants. Electrolyte spillage and battery fluid interactions should be minimized to prevent chemical reactions and electrical conductance. The latter could lead to an electrical shock hazard.