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Minister of State for Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar on Wednesday (August 3) informed the Parliament that the government has taken note of the recent fire incidents involving electric vehicles (EVs). 

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Gurjar said that an expert panel has been set up by the government to tackle safety-related issues of EVs.

“…expert committee was constituted with independent experts from DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru and Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam to tackle the safety related recent issues of electric vehicles,” he said.

He further added that 6,656 EVs have so far been recalled by three manufacturers. Giving a breakdown of the data, Gurjar said that Okinawa recalled 3,215 units of its two-wheeler EVs on April 16 this year, while PureEV recalled 2,000 EVs on April 21. Besides, Ola Electric recalled 1,441 units on April 23 this year.

On rules governing testing of EV components, the minister said that the standards are specified under Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rule, 1989.

The comment comes amidst concerns over the EV fire incidents and tightening of regulatory screws around the EV industry. Last month, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) took suo motu cognisance of the EV fires and issued notices to 4-5 players.

In June, it was widely reported that the expert panel deputed by the government had found that ‘basic safety systems’ were missing from the evehicles involved in fire incidents. The panel also noted that the electric scooters had ‘seriously deficient’ battery management systems and lacked a venting mechanism for overheated cells.

Amid a raging debate over lax testing standards, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in June released the performance standards for EV batteries to curb fire-related incidents.

It all began in March after pictures of an Ola Electric S1 on fire grabbed headlines. After that, a slew of such incidents involving two-wheeler EVs took place. Later, Tata Motors’ Nexon four-wheeler EV also caught fire in Mumbai.

Despite these incidents, sales of EVs are on a rise in the country. As per the latest data, two-wheeler EV registrations in the country grew 5% a month-on-month (MoM) to 44,428 units in July. Hero Electric led the chart with 8,952 units, followed by Okinawa Autotech, Ampere Vehicles and TVS Motor.

According to a Redseer report, two-wheeler EV sales are projected to soar to 78% of the total two-wheeler sales in the country by 2030.