The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has introduced a set of safety norms for batteries used in electric vehicles. Slated to come into effect from October 1, 2022, these new EV battery safety norms include constraints for the design of battery packs, onboard chargers, and thermal propagation due to internal cell short-circuiting that leads to fire.
Amendments to AIS 156 and AIS 038 Rev.2 standards for the respective categories have also been made. These amendments and new norms have been introduced based on a committee report, noted MoRTH.
The ministry's press statement read, 'Based on the recommendations of the expert committee report, the ministry on August 29, 2022, has issued an amendment to AIS 156- Specific requirements for motor vehicles of L category with an electric powertrain, and amendment-2 to AIS 038 Rev. 2 - Specific requirements for Electric Powertrain of motor vehicles of M category and N category (motor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying goods which may also carry persons in addition to the goods).'
With safety guidelines and regulations now conceptualised and designed as per the Indian operating conditions, we are confident that, in the future, every battery manufacturer and OEM will take full responsibility and go above and beyond to ensure that every single EV that reaches Indian roads is the safest of the lot, noted Dr Akshay Singhal, Founder, and CEO of Log9 Materials.
He said, 'Inclusion of battery cells, on-board charger, battery pack design, and heat propagation due to internal cell short circuit leading to fire effectively encompasses all essential variables that could jeopardise a customer's safety, providing an additional push towards EV adoption.'
The additional safety requirements for battery cells, battery packs, BMS, etc., as per Kalyan C Korimerla, Managing Director, Etrio Automobiles, when implemented, can greatly help the OEMs win the confidence of EV end-users by rolling out robust and safe vehicles.
Okinawa had recalled 3,215 units of its electric two-wheelers (e2Ws) on April 16 this year, while PureEV recalled 2,000 e2Ws on April 21, and Ola Electric recalled 1,441 e2W units on April 23 this year. The information was given by Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Heavy Industries, Government of India, while replying to a question about EV fires in the Lok Sabha.
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