Trade-off in safety norms: EV makers say Oct 1 deadline impossible to meet

Let’s say a thief entered your premises by breaking a glass window. To prevent such occurrences, you can protect the windows with cheap iron bars, install costlier toughened glass or fortify your residence by ordering expensive security glass. All three work to varying degrees; the decision depends on how much you can afford. Now, if the government mandates security glass in every home to clamp down on robberies, some households may simply brick up their windows and others may violate the rules by installing cheap iron grills. Very few can afford bullet-proof glass.

This trade-off also applies to the new safety standards introduced by the government for electric vehicles (EVs) with effect from October 1. They have been conceived as a bulletproof mechanism to prevent accidents, and are pretty much on a par with European and UN standards. But for a nascent EV economy, and an extremely price-sensitive market like India, these standards may well amount to overkill in certain respects.

Though they bolster safety, the new standards will drive up costs — by as much as 20 per cent for some — because no manufacturer today follows these new rules, said a battery industry expert. That in turn will increase sticker prices even as households cut back on consumption to counter rising inflation.

This is not to say that rigorous battery standards are not needed. As Arun Vinayak, co-founder of fast-charging battery maker Exponent Energy, pointed out, such regulations will weed out hundreds of mom-and-pop shops operating under the radar and selling substandard EVs, with a rudimentary battery management system (BMS) and little testing.

“The new rules enforce a lot of things that are standard for us,” he added. He cited Exponent’s waterproof IPX7-grade batteries, an advanced, microprocessor-based BMS that can function acceptably in an electromagnetic environment — that is, shield itself from electromagnetic noise from a telecom tower or other vehicles. It also tests a cell for a short circuit to observe if the fire spreads to other cells and causes an explosion (termed a thermal runaway, and a likely reason for the spate of fires involving EVs this year).

The new rules will encourage R&D in battery-making, which had been missing in India’s fledgling EV sector, and raise quality standards in the industry. There will, of course, be operational chaos in the next few months, Vinayak, formerly chief product officer at EV maker Ather, warned.

The main issue is meeting the October 1 deadline — even for state testing agencies that are supposed to implement the standards.

“The new standards can be achieved 100 per cent, but it won’t be feasible by October,” said Anand Kabra, vice-chairman, Kabra Extrusiontechnik, which is quadrupling EV battery capacity. “Manufacturing can be compliant by March, the rest depends on how fast the testing agencies can approve the packs and vehicles,” he added.

Some requirements such as the five-cycle test — a process to check cells for a minimum five cycles of charge/discharge at a slow pace — can take anywhere between 30 and 60 hours, industry officials said. That needs to be changed, they added. Manufacturers typically test a cell for 1-2 cycles, and in less than an hour. The five-cycle test will also require them to create space to store and test cells, which would be an immediate challenge for start-ups.

“It works better in R&D,” said Gautham Maheswaran, founder, RACEnergy, a battery-swapping start-up that makes AIS156-compliant batteries, and has partnered with HPCL and BPCL to set up battery swapping points. “Most of the tests are targeted to make batteries safer but the exact test procedures need to be outlined.”

Chargers, an innocuous piece of equipment neglected by manufacturers and a possible cause of fires, are also targeted under the new laws. There are seven mandated features but most existing units lack features such as earth leakage detection, soft start, time-based cut off, and communication with the BMS, an industry consultant said.

“The standards increase capital costs and can reduce throughput,” Vinayak said. Prices of lithium batteries will increase, making them less affordable in a trade-off between safety and costs, added Pankaj Gupta, CEO, Mufin Green Finance, an NBFC with over ~100 crore in green loan assets. But as a lender to the EV industry, Gupta is happy that the new standards will ensure better quality assets.

But the way these amendments were introduced has been a cause of concern for investors. India’s tryst with battery standards started with AIS048, rudimentary rules that only checked shocks, vibration, overcharge and short circuits. The government was keen to promote EVs via generous subsidies, and ignored the safety aspect. A lack of strict regulations led to rampant imports of components from China, assembling them in local workshops, getting samples passed with Automotive Research Association of India, but ignoring safety laws during production, an industry consultant said.

That changed after AIS156 was proposed to be introduced from October 1. But a spate of fires forced the government to realise that 156 was still wanting in safety aspects. The amendments were meant to plug 156 safety loopholes. But they still fall short of global standards.

“AIS 156 in its amended form has taken several important cues from the international safety standards,” said Vinutaa S, sector head - corporate ratings, ICRA. But international standards are still more evolved given the early penetration of EVs in overseas nations. For example, China has implemented a warning system under which different EV components talk to each other, and warn occupants five minutes before a dangerous situation, she added.

Industry players are worried that any fresh accidents may lead to more investigations that would penalise the entire industry instead of errant manufacturers. Abhijeet Sinha, director, Ease of Doing Business Program, has an answer. He has recommended planting a black box, which is used in aircraft to help investigate crashes, into battery packs (some like Ola and Ather have such data live-streamed to a cloud). That could help fix the blame and take remedial actions against the guilty rather than burdening the entire industry with new rules.

“If you will not figure out whose fault it is quickly then the entire ecosystem is under threat,” Sinha pointed out. And that may end up delaying EV adoption.

Standard deviation

• AIS 048 (2009) — A rudimentary standard that will become obsolete from October
• AIS 156 — An evolved standard that follows the UN R136 safety guidelines with an emphasis on thermal shock, mechanical drop, fire resistance, short circuit, overcharge, overtemperature. It will be implemented from October 1
• AIS 156 amended — Gives specific guidelines on batteries, BMS, cells and chargers. Tests for IPX7 water ingress protection, thermal propagation tests to check fires. Also applicable from October 1 but may be delayed to March 2023
• The Motor Vehicles Act has also been amended to include a clause on conformity of production for EV batteries, applicable from October 1 to ensure that production is in line with the ARAI/ICAT tested units
• International safety standards are more evolved than the amended AIS 156. Europe is migrating towards advanced documentation of EV batteries for traceability, including battery passport and environmental impact of battery production. China has implemented a warning system, whereby different components of EV coordinate with each other, and give warning to occupants five minutes before any potential dangerous situation