EV makers will have to take new safety tests from April 2023 for claiming subsidies

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The Ministry of Heavy Industries has announced a list of safety tests that will be mandatory for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers from April 2023 to receive subsidies under various EV promotion schemes.

These tests will enhance human safety of the battery used in these vehicles by requiring checks at three levels – the battery pack, battery management system (BMS) and the cell, the ministry said in a circular on November 2.

The testing criteria is mandatory for vehicles produced under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for automobiles along with those sold under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles or Fame scheme.

The new tests will also be applicable on batteries produced under the PLI for advanced chemistry cells (ACC).

As per the notification, there would be six new tests for cells, including altitude simulation and temperature cycling. Under temperature cycling test, the reaction of the lithium ion cell is observed after the chamber temperature is raised and is kept at the high temperature.

Altitude simulation, on the other hand is a test to observe that the batteries do not explode or catch fire when stored at a specified absolute pressure and a temperature.

There are five new tests in total at the battery pack level and 11 new tests for the battery management system. These new tests also including dropping or a free fall of battery packs to observe that the lithium ion batteries do not explode or catch fire under a range of possible abuses as per international standard -IEC-62133-2‘, according to the circular.