EV fire incidents: Centre to issue new standards for vehicle batteries within a month, says report

After multiple incidents of electric vehicles catching fire were reported in recent times, the Union government, last month, issued a show-cause notice to EV manufacturers.

After multiple incidents of fire in electric vehicles (EVs) were reported from across the country in recent times, the Union government will issue new standards for EV batteries within a month, according to a report in Hindustan Times' sister publication Live Hindustan.

In recent months, there have been multiple incidents of electric vehicles catching fire.

“The road transport ministry has already sent the draft standards to industry stakeholders for consultation. The draft is based on recommendations made by a committee, which was constituted by the ministry, to probe possible reasons behind electric vehicles catching fire,” two officials, with knowledge of the matter, said on condition of anonymity.

“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,” one of the officials quoted above further said.

Why do EVs catch fire?

The road transport ministry set up two panels, one each to look into the testing norms and standards, and the other to look into the causes behind the fire. The latter committee concluded that the batteries of such EVs had cells that were connected in a ‘parallel’ instead of a ‘series’ pattern, thus increasing the likelihood of a fire. It also found that many of the batteries lacked the venting mechanism to dissipate heat in the event of overheating.

Sales of vehicles with defective batteries stopped

The Centre has directed EV manufacturers to stop the sale of vehicles which have defective batteries. “Once the final standard is published, all EV companies will have to comply with them,” the official said.

Recently, the Minister of State for Heavy Industries informed Lok Sabha that Okinawa, Pure EV and Ola recalled 3,215 units, 2,000 units and 1,441 units respectively.