Electric Vehicles standards and regulations in India

BY  AFZAL YOUSAF 

The automobile industry is ongoing a paradigm shift globally. The past decade has been of Internal combustion engines, but the shift to electric vehicles has become necessary on behalf of faster depletion of fossil fuels, increase in energy cost, and concerns over climatic change.

Considering EVs as the future mode of transportation and the increase in demand, all OEMs are obliged to ensure safety and ease of use for customers. This can only be met by robust testing and certification before the vehicle's launch. To achieve all these, standardization should be done and it will be under various government agencies.

CMVR is a technical standard committee, AISC is the Automotive Indian standard committee, Standing Committee on Emission Legislation-SCOE and Bureau of Indian Standards-BIS are the various govt. agencies that regulate the standards. Various components in EVs must be tested for their role in the application, reliability, durability, safety, and efficiency.

Under CMVR, the following Type approval testing is performed.

Credit:- E-Vehicle Info

For Vehicles falling specifications with 250 W (30 Minutes power of motor) of a max speed of 25 kmph, no CMVR Certification is required. But it should comply with the following things:-

White reflectors on the front side

Red reflectors on the rear side

Brakes

A vehicle without a battery must weigh below 60kg

For Higher Specification EVs, the Following Global regulations are rolled out by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

• AIS 038 - Requirement for construction and functional safety
• AIS 039 - Measurement of electrical energy consumption (Wh/Km)
• AIS 040 - Method of measuring the range
• AIS 041 - Measurement of net power and maximum 30 min power
• AIS 048 - Safety requirements of Traction batteries
• AIS 049 - CMVR Type approval for EVs
• ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2008 - For EMI/EMC Standards

Apart from the above standards, EVs and Hybrid vehicles have to follow AIS 102 Part 1 and Part 2. Another segment that is on rising in India is the Retrofitment business and these conversions should follow the AIS 123 part 1, part 2, and part 3.

For charging infrastructure, AIS138 Part1, Part2 / IS 17017 standard applies, and AIS 131 Type-approval procedures for EVs introduced in the market for Pilot/demonstration or govt. intended projects.

AIS 156 is applicable for L Category vehicles and it implies the following tests:-

• Vibration test
• Thermal shock and cycling test
• Mechanical drop test for removable REESS
• Mechanical shock
• Fire resistance
• External short circuit protection
• Overcharge protection
• Over-discharge protection
• Over-temperature protection