The Road Transport ministry, which has drafted new standards for EV batteries and sent to the related industry stakeholders, is expecting to release them by this month.
A committee was set up by the ministry to inspect cases of vehicles catching fires and the draft was prepared based on its recommendations.
EV Fires are raising concerns about safety issues with electric vehicles. On March 26 2022 in Pune, a brand-new blue electric scooter caught fire as it was parked on the side of the road. Another incident this year, a father and daughter perished in Vellore, Tamil Nadu after an electric scooter caught fire. On March 30, another electric scooter that was being used in Chennai caught fire.
The battery manufacturers in India are burning with a question to solve this burning issue of lithium-ion battery fires. The government probe also looked into fire incidents involving scooters built by Indian start-ups. Due to such incidents, the government is enforcing the provision of safety mechanisms, usage of fire protection products, and change in testing standards for batteries, battery management, and cells due to growing concerns about safety issues as a result of previous fire occurrences.