CEC Introduces Energy Efficiency Regulations for Battery Chargers

On January 12, 2012 the California Energy Commission (CEC) voted 3-0 to implement energy efficiency regulations for battery chargers. The new regulations cover both internal and external power supply-driven products that have rechargeable batteries, including consumer, non-consumer, and industrial battery chargers.

The effective compliance dates for the regulation are as follows:

Feb. 1, 2013: Consumer products used in mobile phones, personal care devices and power tools
Jan. 1, 2014: Industrial chargers (forklifts etc.)
Jan. 1, 2017: Small commercial chargers (walkie-talkie for emergency personnel, portable barcode readers)

Medical devices requiring FDA approval are exempt from this new regulation.

The new California standard impacts general battery charger form factors:

Power supply and charge control circuitry, each in separate housings;
Power supply and charge control circuitry in one housing, battery in separate housing;
Charge control circuitry and battery in one housing, power supply in separate housing;
Power supply, charge control circuitry, and battery all in the same housing

Large battery chargers (defined as those which draw peak power of 2 kW or more) manufactured on or after July 1, 2013 shall meet the applicable performance values in the table below:

Small battery chargers (defined as those which draw peak power of 2 kW or less) that are consumer products and are manufactured on or after July 1, 2012 shall meet the applicable performance values in the table below:
Small battery chargers that are not consumer products and are manufactured on or after July 1, 2013 shall meet the applicable performance values in the table below:

Battery backup and uninterruptable power supplies manufactured on or after July 1, 2013 shall consume no more than 0.8+0.0021 x Eb watts where Eb is the battery capacity in watt-hours.