VIA backs battery safety guidance but warns against OEM control

The Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association (VIA) has backed the development of harmonised Australia-New Zealand guidance for the safe management of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, while warning the framework must not become a mechanism for manufacturer control over independently imported vehicles.

VIA’s submission follows the Motor Industry Association’s (MIA) earlier backing of the same work, which is being led by EPA Victoria on behalf of the Heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (HEPA) in Australia and New Zealand.

Like the MIA, VIA supports a practical, risk-based and regionally consistent approach covering safe storage, damaged battery isolation, transport and packaging, thermal-runaway management, emergency response, quarantine, depowering and and recycling. It also says traction batteries should be treated separately from small consumer batteries, and that controls should differentiate between intact, damaged, submerged, fire-exposed and unknown-condition packs.

Market structure concerns drive VIA position

Where VIA’s submission diverges is its central concern that a legitimate safety framework could unintentionally become a tool for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) channel control.

The association says New Zealand’s market is structurally different from markets where most vehicles arrive through OEM-authorised distributors, with independent imports a core part of the supply system. It warns that if future requirements depend on OEM-controlled manuals, diagnostic tools, software access, battery data, authorisations or take-back systems, independent importers and downstream operators could be left with obligations they cannot practically meet.

“OEM information may be relevant to safety, but OEM discretion must not become the practical condition for compliance,” the submission says.

Battery passport and ownership concerns

VIA raises particular concern about battery passport systems, which it supports for safety and stewardship purposes but says must not evolve into ownership instruments or barriers to repair, dismantling, second-life use or independent recycling. It argues the owner of a vehicle should be presumed the lawful owner of its traction battery unless a separate leasing or finance arrangement applies.

The submission also points to Australia’s existing Motor Vehicle Information Scheme, which gives independent repairers access to service and repair information. VIA says if New Zealand looks to Australian practice on battery management, it should not import those expectations while leaving out the competition safeguard around repair information access.

Responsibility allocation and technical considerations

On responsibility, VIA says obligations should sit with the party able to fulfil them directly, and should not fall disproportionately on used-import operators who often have limited access to OEM battery data. Where safe handling depends on manufacturer-held information, it says the framework should either place the duty on the manufacturer or guarantee qualified independent operators access to the safety-critical information they need.

VIA also calls for the guideline to recognise reuse and second-life pathways rather than treating all removed batteries as waste, and to account for different chemistries such as NMC, NCA, LFP, LMO and LTO, which carry different thermal-runaway and fire risks.

“Design responsibility must not become downstream ownership,” the submission concludes.

The VIA submission was lodged on 14 May.