Automobiles News

Safety certification delay hits EV sales

[ad_1]

Sales of electric two- and three-wheelers fell sequentially last month, which manufacturers blamed primarily on lower production due to a delay in getting their products certified for new safety regulations.

Retail sales of high-speed electric two-wheelers dropped to under 66,500 units in April, a 23% fall from the prior month, according to vehicle registration data sourced from the government’s Vahan portal. Electric three-wheeler sales fell 16% from March to a shade below 38,000 units last month. But from a year earlier, retail sales of both categories increased, by 27% for electric two-wheelers and 76% for three-wheelers. Ola Electric was the only major electric two-wheeler company that posted a sequential increase in sales.

The government has amended Rule 156 of the Automotive Industry Standards to introduce new safety regulations for electric two- and three-wheelers to address the problem of vehicles catching fire. The amendment was implemented in two phases, with the second one taking effect on March 31.

Compliance with the new regulation is now compulsory for the production of electric vehicles. But manufacturers ET spoke with said getting certification for compliance was taking time, affecting their production schedules and, in turn, the sales numbers.

These amendments include additional safety requirements related to battery cells and battery management systems to ensure prevention of thermal runaway – an event where the battery overheats. There had been many cases of fire incidents in electric vehicles due to battery overheating and some of those had caused fatalities.

Subsidies totalling more than ₹1,200 crore are on hold for around a dozen companies, as per a lobby group representing the industry. The government incentive had kept electric vehicle prices competitive with fossil-fuel powered models. Since the subsidy is paid as a reimbursement after the manufacturers sell the vehicles, halting of the payment has affected the working capital of several of these companies, leading them to cut production. The non-disbursal of subsidy has mostly affected electric two-wheeler companies.

Manufacturers such as Okinawa Autotech, Benling and Lectrix are still awaiting the certification from the two government-approved vehicle testing agencies: the Automotive Research Association of India in Pune and the International Centre for Automotive Technology at Manesar near Delhi. Jitendra EV, another affected manufacturer, received the certification on Tuesday, said a top executive of the company. EV companies must get the certification for each model and the process of testing and certification takes 20-30 days, said people in the know.”There is a backlog with the testing agencies, and we are yet to get the certification. This means our production has come to a halt,” said Benling India executive director Amit Kumar.While most of the battery makers have received the clearance, several vehicle manufacturers still need to integrate these batteries into their vehicles and get certified for mass production.

“We are in the process of R&D validation and product integration,” said Sulajja Firodia Motwani, chief executive of Kinetic Green that specialises in electric three-wheelers.

Safety certification delay hits EV sales

[ad_2]

Source link