New Safety Tests For Electric Vehicles In India

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) India has announced a number of new safety tests that will be mandatory for electric vehicles (EV) manufacturers from 1 April 2023."To safeguard Human Safety, certain tests which are done internationally will be made mandatory from 1 April 2023 for claiming incentives/payouts under the PLI scheme for Automobile and Auto components, ACC [Advanced Chemistry Cell] and FAME II scheme," the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) said in a circular.Starting April 2023, EVs will have to undergo new mandatory tests on the cell level, battery pack level and battery management system (BMS) level, as per the ministry. The Cell level tests include impact tests, temperature cycling, shock, vibration, fire exposure and altitude simulation. The battery pack level tests include case stress, dro/free fall, immersion, crush, and imbalance charging.And, the BMS level tests include over-current protection, communication interface, cell voltage for each series check, current sensors check, cell temperature check, MOS temperature check, charge MOS check, discharge MOS check, power rail check, fuse current check, and cell balance function check.This comes after instances of a dozen EVs catching fire being reported since March.