electric cars: the government is closely monitoring the safety of electric cars, experts are working: the minister

As sales of two-wheeled electric vehicles fall battery fire fears Okinawa Autotech, PureEV and Ola Electric 6,656 cars recalled after battery explosions spike in country Electric cars and specialists work.

Answering a question in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Heavy Industries, Krishan Pal Gurjarsaid that the government has taken serious notice of battery explosion incidents in electric two-wheelers and a panel of experts is looking into it.

The minister said that of the 6,656 electric vehicles recalled, Okinawa Autotech recalled 3,215 units, PureEV recalled 2,000 electric vehicles and Ola Electric recalled 1,441 units.

“An expert committee has been tasked with addressing recent security issues electric cars. Testing of components for electric vehicles is done as per relevant standards as mentioned in Rule 126 of Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to ensure compliance,” Gurjar informed.

An expert committee was constituted of independent experts from DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru and Naval Science and Technology Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam to address the recent challenges related to the safety of electric vehicles,” – said the minister in his answer.

He said the government is closely monitoring the safety standards of electric vehicles.

The data came as Ater Energy sold just 1,279 electric two-wheelers in the entire month of July, down from 3,829 vehicles in June – a significant drop – followed by Ola Electric, which sold 3,852 vehicles from 5,891 in June.

The fall in sales of electric two-wheelers, according to industry experts, is due to consumer fears about the safety of electric two-wheelers due to several fires and battery explosions in the recent past.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told Parliament last month that all two-wheeler electric vehicle companies whose vehicles caught fire due to battery problems had been served with show cause notices.

The ministry has set up an expert committee to propose safety standards for batteries, their components and related systems.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, said this week that it has issued notices to four to five electric two-wheeler manufacturers following several consumer complaints of battery explosions and fires.

The CCPA has received several complaints from buyers of electric two-wheelers.