A new dielectric test on main relays of electric traction vehicles, the partial discharge(PD) test, is proposed. The PD test will not affect the insulation performance of specimen during the test and provide much more detailed information on insulation, the types of defects, and so on. Insulation performance of relays is estimated by discharge inception voltage(DIV), discharge extinction voltage (DEV), and apparent charge as a function of test voltage and time. Three main relays of different manufacturing date were estimated by applying AC voltage with three patterns in ranges of $0{sim}1,200[V]$. From the results, we could estimate insulation state and which types of defects exist in them.