NREL Traction Battery Thermal Management Study

That's a GII pack and an old test (2002). Some of the functioning may have changed a bit with the GIII, though the basic pack is the same.

I wonder why your government feels it's necessary to redo the research Toyota/Panasonic have already done?

 

I found a link to this study a couple of months ago. I have the pdf saved for future reference.

I was concerned about some of the battery temps that I was seeing in 90F weather. After reading this I found out that these temps were right in line with the study finding so really gives me peace of mind that my battery is doing just fine.

 

My guess is that the US government wanted to check and verify the Toyota/Panasonic battery test data for public safety reasons. HV battery usage in automobiles was fairly new and there was concern about the overall safety of using HV batteries inside the cabin with the driver and passengers.

 

Of course the highest tech car on the road has a circulating fluid heating and cooling system system for the battery pack.

 

It's fairly straightforward. Various US executive departments (e.g. commerce) & congressional staffers (both parties) will query the executive branch about federal subsidies, investment legislation, trade negotions, etc. with very specific questions about where the US stands compared to other countries technical and production capabilities.

Where does one go to get an official answer?

That is often a responsibility of the national labs to provide those answers. Getting an evaluation of how "safe" Toyota batteries are from GM or Ford may not be a productive source. Asking a foreign corporation to give over proprietary data is out of the question. Getting an evaluation from a national lab where all the details of what was tested, how it was tested, and what the test results is usually the only viable answer.