Uniform Safety Standards For EVs

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Context:

To establish uniform safety standards for electric vehicles (EVs), India will begin its first ever testing of EVs from April 1, 2023.

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GS III: Science and Technology

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There have been numerous electric two-wheeler and four-wheeler fires in recent months, raising worries.
There are currently no centralised EV testing facilities in India, and each manufacturer has its own standards.
The Bureau of Indian Standards published performance standards for lithium-ion battery packs and traction systems in June 2022, aligning them with more general ISO criteria. This was the first significant step towards the standardisation of battery technology.
The Automotive Research Association of India, which is based in Pune, has been given the responsibility of acquiring the infrastructure required to test battery-powered vehicles (ARAI).
To provide the necessary infrastructure for testing, certification, and the development of electric and hybrid cars, the Ministry of Heavy Industries has given ARAI a budget of Rs 44 crore.

An EV operates on an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine and has a battery instead of a fuel tank.
In general, EVs have low running costs as they have fewer moving parts and are also environmentally friendly.
The earlier guidelines and standards were issued by the Ministry of Power in December 2018 and will be superseded by the new guidelines.
- Lack of charging infrastructure is one of the main reasons behind poor adoption of electric mobility in India.
Under the NEMMP 2020, there is an ambitious target to achieve 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles by the year 2020.
At present, EV market penetration is only 1% of total vehicle sales in India, and of that, 95% of sales are electric two-wheelers.

It is a National Mission document by Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country.
As part of the NEMMP 2020, Scheme named Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) was launched in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same.
The Phase-I of this Scheme (FAME I) was initially launched for a period of 2 years and was implemented through four focus areas:
- Demand Creation,
- Technology Platform,
- Pilot Project
- Charging Infrastructure.
FAME II
- It was launched in March 2019 for a period of 3 years.
- The main objective of the scheme is to encourage faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicle by way of offering upfront incentive on purchase of electric vehicles and also by establishing the necessary charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.