Why are Electric Vehicles Catching Fire in India? UPSC Current Affairs

Context

To control the rising instances of fires in electric vehicles (EVs) in different parts of the country, the government has  stepped in with a plan to formulate procedures for battery certification and quality control.

Probable Question

Recent incidents of fires in Electric Vehicles will impact India’s ambitious mission under the National Electric Mobility Plan. Critically comment. 

About Electric Vehicle

• All vehicles that are operated on an electric motor instead of internal combustion engine vehicles are electric vehicles (EVs).
• Companies such as Tata Motors, MG, and Hyundai have launched affordable EVs to make it pocket friendly.
• The increased fuel prices have caused many to switch to EVs, but there are many who hesitate in buying EVs due to the lack of charging infrastructure, even in big cities, triggering range anxiety.
• Government has encouraged the passengers to shift to Evs as it reduces its crude import bill  and helps the nation towards achieving India’s Net Zero Emissions by 2070.
• It has been planned to set up at least one EV charging station for every 69,000 petrol pumps across the country.
• The Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced that the government is also targeting to go all-electric in terms of new car sales in the country by 2030.

EVs Catching Fire

• There has been a rising incidence of EVs catching fire, especially in the electric two-wheeler due to;
  • Manufacturing defects
  • External damages
  • Faults in the deployment in the battery management system
  • Faulty charging could also have been a reason behind the fire
• Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech and PureEV are the makers of electric two-wheelers, who recalled their scooters in the wake of separate fire incidents.
• The first major instance of an EV catching fire in India is a case of a Tata Nexon EV, the country’s largest-selling EV, in Maharashtra.

Government Measure to Prevent EVs Catching Fire

• To deter such incidents from reoccurring, the government has set up a panel of experts from;
  • Visakhapatnam-based Naval Science & Technological Laboratory;
  • The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras;
  • The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru;
  • An expert in advanced chemistry.
• The committee will suggest the right quality of the product, a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for testing and validation of key components, and formulate a certification standard for the battery used in EVs
• To probe the circumstances that led to the incident of vehicles catching fireand suggest remedial measures for the same, the government has set up another committee from the Center for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety and the Indian Institute of Science and Naval Science & Technological Laboratory.

News Source: The Indian Express

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