Thursday, August 25, 2022
By Kamal Swami
Government To Issue New Standards For Batteries Of EVs
The recent incidents of electric vehicles catching fire across the country have raised a question about their safety. Understanding, the sensitivity of these incidents, the government of India is going to issue new standards for the manufacturers of batteries used in electric vehicles. According to two senior officials of the Ministry of Road and Transport, the ministry has sent the draft of new standards to industry experts for consultation. The draft outlines the recommendations suggested by a committee constituted by the ministry to find reasons for electric vehicles catching fire.
According to one of these officials, “The draft standards lay out minimum requirements for battery manufacturing. In June, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) prepared separate performance standards for EV batteries. It also recommended the 'IS 17855:2022' standard for lithium-ion battery packs. The Bureau is expected to release some more standards soon”.
Heat Alert System By Students of Noida: Where the incidents of electric vehicles catching fire have perturbed the government to determine new standards for the manufacturers of electric batteries. Two engineering students of Sharda University, Noida, Sudhanshu and Pranjal, have developed a new heat alert device. This device starts alarming as soon as it recognizes the chances of an electric vehicle catching the fire.
The working of this device was demonstrated during the Idea Hackathon organized by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise held in June 2022. Impressed by their initiative and expecting this to be a useful device, the ministry of MSME granted an incentive of Rs 15 lakh to both students.
Why Do Electric Vehicles Catch Fire? While on one side the government is encouraging the use of electric vehicles for the daily commute, the emergence of such incidents is enough to impact the efforts of the government. To know the reasons behind the happenings of such incidents, the Ministry of Road and Transport initiated two panels to know the testing norms and standards and the other one to know the reasons behind the incidents. According to the second panel, batteries of EVs had cells connected in a ‘parallel’ direction instead of ‘series’. This increases the chances of fire. Moving ahead the panel also noticed that the batteries don’t have a suitable place for ventilation, this developed the situation of overheating which resulted in such accidents.
