Government Announces Additional Battery Safety Norms From October 1

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MoRTH) has announced it will be implementing additional safety requirements in the existing battery safety standards. The update comes in light of the recent spate of EV fires that left the industry and customer safety in the doldrums. Several people even lost their lives after multiple cases of EV battery explosions in the last few months. Given the grave situation, the government instituted an expert committee to investigate the matter. Based on the expert committee report, MoRTH has issued amendment 2 to AIS 156 safety standards for electric two-wheelers, quadricycles and four-wheelers. The additional safety standards will come into effect from October 1, 2022.

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The expert committee has recommended additional safety requirements in the existing battery safety standards

The expert committee appointed includes Tata Narsingh Rao (Director, ARC', Hyderabad), and Shri M.K. Jain (Scientist - G, CFEES, DRDO), Dr. Arti Bhatt (Scientist-F, Additional Director, CFEES, DRDO), Dr. Subba Reddy (Principal Research Scientist, IISc, Bengaluru), Prof. L Umanand (Chair, DESE, IISc, Bangaluru), Dr. M. Srinivas (Scientis-E, NSTL, Vishakhapatnam), Prof. Devendra Jalihal (Head, C-BEEV, 11T Madras, Chennai) as members, to recommend additional safety requirements in the existing battery safety standards notified under CMV Rules.

The amendments include additional safety requirements related to battery cells, BMS, on-board charger, design of battery pack, thermal propagation due to internal cell short circuit leading to fire and more. Complete details on what changes are required at the production level are yet to be announced.

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In addition to the amended safety standards, the ministry has also issued draft notification GSR 659 (E) dated 25th August 2022, to amend Sub-rule 4 of Rule 124 of Central Motor Vehicles Rule (CMVR) 1989, for mandating Conformity of Production (COP) for traction batteries used in electric vehicles. The government has invited all stakeholders for their comments and suggests over the next 30 days before the new amendments are mandated.