Customised battery packs for Tesla OBUs meet international safety standards: LTA

[SINGAPORE] In early February, the Tesla Owners Club Singapore wrote to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), voicing safety concerns over the installation of external lithium battery systems to power on-board units (OBUs) that must be installed in all vehicles here by the end of 2026.The letter raised concerns over the risks of installing a continuously charged lithium battery system that “lacks a visible active cooling or thermal management subsystem” inside Tesla cabins, highlighting, among other things, the fire hazard if the battery overheats.Responding to queries from The Straits Times, LTA on Friday (Feb 20) clarified that the external battery device complies with international safety standards for electronic devices and does not charge continuously.To work reliably, OBUs require a constant power supply, which is available for most vehicles on the road today. However, some electric motorcycles and cars – and Teslas in particular – do not have such a feature.LTA added that it landed on equipping Tesla cars with an external battery device after working with Tesla Singapore for a workable solution.From Jan 1, 2027, it will be mandatory for Singapore-registered vehicles to be fitted with the OBU as the country switches fully to the next-generation Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system.Since Dec 2, 2024, Tesla cars delivered to customers with pre-fitted OBUs have been equipped with the iRoad Powerpack Pro 12, made by a South Korean company known for in-car cameras.Since January 2026, older Teslas that need to retrofit OBUs after delivery have used a customised external battery device, which was developed by local engineering company Hope Technik.It uses lithium iron phosphate battery cells, similar to the iRoad model. LTA said that such batteries are also used by major electric vehicle manufacturers.The installation of the OBU and external battery system for Teslas has to be done by Indeco Engineers, and there is no charge if the installation is done within three months of a final reminder sent by LTA. This reminder will be sent from February to owners who have yet to get the devices installed.Like the OBU, the customised device is tested against the International Electrotechnical Commission’s IEC-60068 and IEC-60529 standards – to withstand environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, vibration and shock, and for resistance to dust and water, respectively.LTA added that these standards are widely used to assess the operational reliability of electronic devices.So far, around 4,200 Tesla cars have been fitted with the iRoad model and 380 have the customised unit. As at the end of 2025, there were 8,635 Teslas in Singapore. In total, about 930,000 vehicles, or 93 per cent of the vehicle population, have been fitted with OBUs. THE STRAITS TIMES