IEC 62619 sets the safety requirements and tests for secondary lithium cells and batteries used in industrial applications — stationary storage (telecom, UPS, grid BESS) and motive power (forklifts, AGVs). Edition 2 (2022) added thermal propagation, battery-system design and EMC requirements. It is the cell-and-battery safety layer beneath UL 9540A and NFPA 855.
IEC 62619:2022 Safety tests and design requirements for secondary lithium cells and batteries in industrial use — overcharge, external short circuit, thermal propagation, plus battery-system design, protection against hazardous live and moving parts, and EMC (added in Edition 2).
IEC 62620 Performance requirements and tests for the same industrial lithium cells and batteries — capacity, cycle life, energy and power. The performance counterpart to 62619's safety.
IEC 63056 Additional and modified safety requirements for secondary lithium batteries used specifically in electrical energy storage systems (EES). Builds on IEC 62619 for grid-connected storage.
(TP) (SOA) Lithium cells store a lot of energy in a small space, and that is exactly why a faulty one is dangerous. IEC 62619 is the international standard that makes a secondary lithium cell — and the battery built from it — safe enough for industrial use: stationary storage like telecom, UPS and grid batteries, and motive power like forklifts and automated guided vehicles. Road vehicles are deliberately excluded; they follow the automotive battery series instead.
The standard tests the cell against the abuses that precede a fire: overcharge, external short circuit, forced discharge, crush and heating. Edition 2 (2022) went further. It added a thermal propagation requirement — force one cell into runaway and the design must stop the failure cascading to its neighbours — together with rules for battery-system design, protection against hazardous live and moving parts, and electromagnetic compatibility. The principle is simple: a safe cell inside an unsafe pack is not a compliant product. The Battery Management System must keep every cell inside its safe operating area of voltage, current and temperature, and 62619 checks that the protection actually holds.
62619 rarely travels alone. IEC 62620 covers the performance of the same industrial cells — capacity, cycle life, energy and power — while 62619 covers their safety. For grid storage specifically, IEC 63056 adds and modifies requirements to reflect how electrical energy storage stresses cells: deep cycling, large series-parallel strings, long calendar life. Together they describe an industrial lithium battery that is both safe and fit for duty.
A battery storage installation is governed by three layers that build on each other. IEC 62619 makes the battery safe as a product. UL 9540A then measures how a failure would propagate from cell to module to unit. NFPA 855 uses that propagation data to set the separation distances, ventilation and fire suppression of the installation itself. The system-level series IEC 62933 ties the safety case together, and IEC 62443 secures the controls that keep the battery inside its limits.