Electric vehicle battery makers likely to get more time to meet safety norms

Mumbai: Battery manufacturers may get an extension of four to five months to meet the additional safety requirements that the government has brought in after several incidents of electric vehicles catching fire, two people in the know said.

The deadline for adopting the new and more stringent safety standards currently is October 1. Battery makers and manufacturers of electric vehicles have been lobbying the government to provide them more time to comply with the new regulations, saying that they got only four weeks to implement those since the notification came only this month.

After several rounds of deliberations among the government, automakers and battery manufacturers, "it is decided in principle to extend the deadline", said a person close to the development.

The industry has been seeking time till March 31, 2023, to incorporate the changes as per the AIS-156 Rev-2 requirement and till August 31, 2023, to complete the re-homologation of the battery packs.

But their demand for phase-wise implementation may not be met, the people said, as the authorities want them to adopt the changes much ahead of the summer months. High atmospheric temperature is seen as one of the reasons for batteries in electric vehicles getting overheated and catching fire.

Electric vehicle manufacturers such as Hero Electric, Tata Motors, Kinetic Green Energy & Power Solutions and several battery companies said they needed adequate time to implement the changes. Given the scope of amendments proposed, battery packs would be required to undergo significant re-design, re-engineering, validation and testing, according to them.