Committee report on new guidelines for electric vehicles soon, says Gadkari

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has told the Parliament that all the EV two-wheelers companies have been served show-cause notices after their vehicles caught fire owing to battery issues.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said the CEOs and Managing Directors of EV manufacturers have been issued show-cause notices.

Further action would be taken based on the responses received from the EV manufacturers, the minister said.

Gadkari was asked about steps taken to ensure extensive testing of EVs by manufacturers and if the government fined EV manufacturers for fire incidents.

He said that the ministry had constituted a committee of experts to suggest safety standards for batteries, battery components, and related systems.

Based on the information of fire incidents available, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a show-cause notice to the CEOs and MDs of the concerned two wheeler electric scooter manufacturers, to explain the reasons as to why the relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act should not be invoked against them.

Earlier, Minister of State of Heavy Industries, Krishan Pal Gurjar, informed the Parliament that three manufacturers recalled a total of 6,656 electric two-wheelers in April this year.

Gurjar said Okinawa recalled 3,215 units of vehicles on April 16, Pure EV recalled 2,000 units of vehicles on April 21, and Ola Electric recalled 1,441 units of vehicles on April 23.

"Testing of components for EVs is done as per relevant standards, as specified in Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rule, 1989 to ensure compliance," he said.

The government-formed committee to formulate new guidelines for electric vehicles (EVs) is set to submit its report soon.

It had formed a committee to bring in standard operating procedure (SOP) on battery certification and quality control in order to help EV makers develop efficient and safe products for the consumers.

The committee has experts from the Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore, the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory in Andhra Pradesh, and the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, among others.

The fresh standards will focus on traceability of foreign suppliers of cells and battery components.

The preliminary findings from another government-constituted probe committee on EV fires also identified issues with battery cells or design in nearly all of the electric two-wheeler fire incidents in the country.

The experts found defects in battery cells as well as battery design in nearly all EV fires.