Tag: electric vehicles

BIS Said to Roll Out New Performance Standards for EV Batteries to Ensure Consumer Safety

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has come out with performance standards for electric vehicle batteries in order to ensure the safety of consumers, a senior consumer affairs ministry official said on Thursday.

BIS, the national standards-setting body that functions under the consumer affairs ministry, has published the “performance standards for electronic vehicle batteries”, the official said.

The standard “IS 17855: 2022” has been formulated for lithium-ion traction battery packs and systems of electrically-propelled road vehicles and it has been harmonized with ISO 12405-4: 2018, the official added.

According to the official, the new EV batteries’ standard incorporates the test procedure for the basic characteristic of performance, reliability and electrical functionality for the battery packs and system for either high power or high energy application.

This standard is formulated considering real-life scenarios for an electric vehicle such as vehicle in parking (battery is not used for an extended period of time), the battery system is being shipped (stored) and operating battery at low and high temperature. Accordingly, various tests are incorporated in this standard.

Electric vehicles operate on an electric motor and rechargeable batteries. Over the past decade, electric vehicles have grown in terms of visibility and availability in the market. Most electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries because of their high power-to-weight ratio.

Considering the safety aspect of batteries for electronic vehicles, the BIS is in the process of publishing two more standards related to batteries for various passenger and goods carrying vehicles (L, M and N categories), the official said.

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Government Reportedly Orders Probe Into Nexon EV Fire Incident, Report to Be Submitted This Month

The government has ordered an independent enquiry into a Nexon electric vehicle catching fire in Mumbai, a senior Road Transport and Highways ministry official said on Thursday.

“We have ordered an independent enquiry to investigate the Nexon EV fire incident,” the official told PTI. The Centre for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam have been asked to probe the circumstances that led to the incident and also suggest remedial measures, the official added.

Tata Motors said it is also investigating the incident of its Nexon EV catching fire in Mumbai.

Responding to the incident that has been widely shared on social media, Tata Motors in a statement on Thursday said, “A detailed investigation is currently being conducted to ascertain the facts of the recent isolated thermal incident that is doing the rounds on social media.” Further, it said, “We will share a detailed response after our complete investigation. We remain committed to the safety of our vehicles and their users.”

The company asserted, “This is a first incident after more than 30,000 EVs have cumulatively covered over 100 million km across the country in nearly 4 years.” In the electric two-wheeler segment there have been many incidents of vehicles catching fire in the recent past. Electric two-wheeler makers such as Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech and PureEV had recalled their scooters in the wake of separate fire incidents.

The fire incidents had prompted the government to form a panel to examine and had warned companies of penalties if they were found to be negligent.

The government-appointed panel is expected to submit its report on electric two-wheeler fire incidents this month, according to a road ministry official.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had recently said companies found negligent will be penalised and a recall of all defective vehicles will be ordered after the expert panel submits its report.

The government had earlier ordered a probe in April after an e-scooter launched by ride-hailing operator Ola’s electric mobility arm engulfed in fire in Pune.

The Centre for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) had been asked to probe the circumstances that led to the incident and also suggest remedial measures, according to the road transport ministry.

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Tesla India Executive Reportedly Resigned Weeks After Company Puts EV Plans in the Country on Hold

A key executive who was leading Tesla’s lobbying effort in India has resigned, weeks after the US carmaker put on hold plans to sell electric cars in the South Asian nation, two sources aware of the matter told Reuters.

Manuj Khurana, policy and business development executive at Tesla in India, was hired in March 2021 and played a key role in forming a domestic market-entry plan for the US carmaker in the country.

He lobbied the Indian government for more than a year to slash the import tax on electric cars to 40 percent from as high as 100 percent, a move Tesla said would allow it to test the market with imports from its production hubs like China before investing in a factory.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government insisted Tesla must first commit to manufacturing cars locally before it can offer any concessions. With talks deadlocked, Tesla put its plans to sell cars in India on hold, reassigned some of the domestic team and abandoned its search for showroom space.

Neither Khurana, the company’s first employee in India, nor Tesla responded to requests for comment. An email sent to Khurana generated an automated reply saying the address was no longer valid and future emails would not be received.

“Tesla’s plans to launch in India right now are as good as dead,” said one of the sources.

The sources wished to remain anonymous because the resignation had not yet been made public.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Twitter last month that the company would not set up manufacturing in any location where it was not allowed first to sell and service cars.

The carmaker has also shifted its focus to other markets in Southeast Asia, like nickel-rich Indonesia, where it is looking at a potential battery-related investment, as well as Thailand, where it recently registered a local unit to sell cars.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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TVS Aims to Scale Up Play in EV Segment by Leveraging Production-Linked Incentive Scheme

TVS aims to build a “sustained dominant play” in the electric vehicle segment by leveraging various government initiatives like production-linked incentive scheme, among others. As per its annual report for 2021-22, the company has robust plans to scale up its play in the electric segment.

“The PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) and FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) initiatives of the government will be fully leveraged by the company and strategically build a sustained dominant play in this segment,” it said.

The industry is slated to grow rapidly and the company has robust plans for this segment, it added.

“In addition, with the strategic association with BMW, the company will be exploring the joint design and development of urban EV options for the global markets,” TVS stated.

The company has created a dedicated vertical for EV segment with over 600 engineers and adopted the Centres of Competency (COCs) with an agile working approach.

TVS sold more than 10,000 EVs in 2021-22.

Overall, the company said it expects to outperform the industry in terms of sales growth on the back of new product launches and economic activity once again gathering pace.

“Due to the strong product line-up, unwavering focus on consumer, quality, cost and the strong new launches, the company is confident about outperforming the industry, inspite of the global challenges and a tough business environment,” it said in the annual report 2021-22.

Domestic moped and economy motorcycle segments have lately underperformed and are likely to return to growth, with some buoyancy expected in rural agriculture led markets, it added.

With considerable improvement in the urban markets across India, the company said it is positive about the performance of the scooter segment. This segment will see significant demand from students, working women and the broader replacement segment is likely to perform better in line with the re-opening of school, colleges along with offices, the company stated.

Besides, two wheeler exports are also likely to witness growth during the year fueled by strong demand for the company’s products and due to its operations in diverse geographies that mitigates overall risk.

“Some of the geographies, which are agriculture dependent and have surplus of crude oil, will act as a hedge against the countries which may face adverse impact due to high fuel and food prices,” the company stated.

Elaborating on the challenges which could disrupt the growth, the company noted that the demand growth is highly dependent on improvement in consumer sentiment.

“The improvement in sentiment is yet to fully recover to pre-COVID levels and could be impacted by inflation, especially energy and food led, and any significant adverse development in COVID situation,” it said.

Monsoon still delivers the majority of the irrigation needs of Indian agriculture, and any deviation from the predicted normal monsoons would impact rural markets significantly, it added.

Besides, any further price increases due to additional commodity cost escalation could adversely impact demand, TVS noted.

“The low and mid segment of the market have low headroom for further price increases. Less than projected GDP growth and/or consequent jobs growth could adversely impact domestic demand,” it cautioned.

During the year ended March 2022, the company’s overall two- and three-wheeler sales, including international business, grew by 8 percent at 33.10 lakh units as against 30.52 lakh units in 2020-21 fiscal.

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Elon Musk Says No Plant in India Until Tesla Allowed to Sell, Service Imported Cars

Hinting that Tesla will not put a manufacturing plant in India the carmaker’s chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk said on Friday tweeted that until the company is first allowed to sell and service imported cars in the country there will be no setting up of the bases.
Responding to an individual on Twitter, who questioned Musk vis-a-vis Tesla’s plans to put up a manufacturing plant in India, the billionaire responded, “Tesla will not put a manufacturing plant in any location where we are not allowed first to sell and service cars.”

These comments suggest that the standstill between the government and Tesla in regard to setting up the manufacturing plant in the country continues.

Earlier in April, highlighting the conducive environment for automobile manufacturing in India, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that Elon Musk is welcome to manufacture e-vehicles in India, but in case the Tesla owner desires to build in China and sell here, it cannot be a “good proposition”.

Gadkari made the remarks while speaking at a private event in Delhi answering a question on Tesla’s concerns on “high duties” in India.

“It is a very easy alternative; if Elon Musk is ready to manufacture a Tesla in India, there is no problem. We have got all competencies, the vendors are available. We have got all types of technology and because of that, he can reduce the cost,” Gadkari said.

Inviting Tesla to start manufacturing in India, the Union Minister highlighted that India is a huge market, and infrastructure like ports are available to enable exports.

“He is welcome in India. We don’t have any problem, but, suppose, he wants to manufacture in China and sell in India, it cannot be a good proposition for India. Our request to him is, come to India and manufacture here,” Gadkari said.

Citing the tremendous growth in the e-vehicles sector in India over the last few years, Gadkari further said that “my suggestion to Elon Musk is, in India, he will get a good market and Indian market is very huge. It is a win-win situation for both.”

He added that India has all the quality vendors and automobile spare parts that are available in China and that “it can be easier for him to make here in India and sell in India. He will get good profits from that, and good economics is there. I will request him to come to India and start manufacturing here.”

Echoing similar sentiments, the Minister of State for Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar earlier in February told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour that there cannot be a situation where the market is in India but jobs are created in China.

In 2020, Musk announced plans to open the production of Tesla electric vehicles in India. A subsidiary of Tesla, India Motors and Energy Private Limited was established in Bengaluru in southwest India. Musk said he was ready to build a Tesla factory in India if the country reduces the cost of importing electric vehicles.

Elon Musk, an American entrepreneur and the founder of Tesla, said that the electric vehicle company continues to face “a lot of challenges” with the government regarding the setting up of car production in India.

Earlier in January, a Twitter user posted a tweet asking Musk whether there was any further update on Tesla’s manufacturing launch in India and saying the vehicles “deserve to be in every corner of the world.”

“Still working through a lot of challenges with the government, ” Musk answered on Twitter.

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Magenta to Hire Over 340 People Across Roles With New Offices Opening in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Bengaluru

Home-grown electric vehicle charging and mobility solutions company Magenta on Tuesday said that it will hire more than 340 people in 2022. The announcement comes amidst Magenta expanding its geographical presence with new offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi NCR, the company said in a statement.

The company is looking to hire candidates in various positions, including entry-level, mid-level and those having more experience. It is participating in multiple campus and off-campus drives and planning to recruit across tier I and II institutes.

Magenta is looking at hiring employees with specific technical skill set, which includes embedded product design and development, infrastructure network management and telematics.

Along with technical fields, the company will hire talent across human resources, finance, marketing and communications roles.

“We have a strong growth plan lined up for the financial year 2022-23, driven by the multiple fold growth we achieved in FY22. We have set up audacious but achievable plans in tango with the growing EV (Electric Vehicle) ecosystem in India and abroad.

“The next 6-12 months are critical for the company’s growth ambitions, hence we are looking to hire over 340 people to match the demand of current and future businesses,” Magenta founder director Maxson Lewis said.

The company also said it is in discussions to raise Series B funding in 2022.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor India has recently joined hands with Tata Power to set up fast charging electric vehicle infrastructure across its select dealerships in the country.

Under the collaboration, 60kW DC charging stations will be installed at the company’s 34 EV dealerships in 29 cities to cater to all kinds of electric vehicles through Hyundai and Tata Power EZ Charge mobile app.

“The company is glad to announce its partnership with Tata Power to facilitate and strengthen India’s robust EV ecosystem and enhance the general outlook on sustainable transportation, reaffirming Hyundai’s vision to integrate social responsibility with economic prosperity and community wellness,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) MD & CEO Unsoo Kim said in a statement.

Such strategic partnerships are fundamental in accelerating the adoption of EVs by customers to achieve the national goal of carbon neutrality, he added.

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Delhi Government Approves 1,500 Electric Buses for Public Transport Fleet

The Delhi government on Friday approved the induction of 1,500 low-floor electric buses in its public transportation fleet, an official statement said. The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) also decided to allocate 10 sites to various agencies for setting up Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations and battery swapping stations under Delhi EV Policy 2020, it said.

The city government also gave its approval to run 75 inter-state buses along 11 routes across five states and a Union Territory.

The DTC board also decided to enhance the stipend paid to women during training for engagement to the post of drivers on contract basis from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000 per month with HMV driving licence.

The board had already dropped the condition of holding an HMV driving licence for at least three years for women seeking employment as bus drivers in its fleet, the statement said.

The 10 sites which have been allocated to various service providers for establishing EV charging and battery swapping stations are Ambedkar Nagar Depot, Jal Vihar Terminal, Dilshad Garden Terminal, Karawal Nagar Terminal, Shadipur Depot, Mayapuri Depot, Bindpur Terminal, East Vinod Nagar, Punjabi Bagh, and Rohini Depot-I. Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) has identified four service providers through a competitive bidding process who will soon sign an agreement with DTC for setting up the EV charging/battery swapping stations in these locations. The DTC Board also resolved to provide in-principle approval for procurement of 75 (38 non-AC and 37 AC) CNG standard floor buses for inter-state operations, it said.

These buses will ply on 11 routes across five states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab) and Chandigarh — between Delhi-Rishikesh, Delhi-Haridwar, Delhi-Dehradun, Delhi-Haldwani, Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Bareilly, Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Panipat, and Delhi-Patiala, the statement said.

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Ola Electric Upgrading VCUs on Older S1 Pro Electric Scooters to Avoid Further Recalls: Report

Ola S1 Pro electric scooters are reportedly receiving an upgrade to the vehicle control unit (VCU) in order to accommodate future updates and to mitigate heating issues, pre-emptively preventing further recalls. New Ola S1 Pro units are being shipped with an upgraded VCU with more RAM and onboard storage, according to a report. The company is also tipped to soon perform VCU upgrades for older units. The company, which issued a recall of 1,441 electric scooters last month, is yet to announce any plans to upgrade the VCU on units that have been sold in the country.

According to a report by 91Mobiles citing tipster Yogesh Brar, Ola Electric could soon adopt a recall schedule or perform home visits to in order to upgrade the VCU on electric scooters that shipped before March. The older VCU available on those models does not have enough RAM and storage for future updates, according to the report. The revelation comes amid multiple complaints from users claiming their scooter switches on reverse mode or shuts down automatically, and an instance of the company’s Ola Electric S1 Pro scooter catching fire in Pune in March.

The purported new VCU that is being used by the SoftBank-backed company on new and existing Ola S1 Pro scooters is said to have more RAM and onboard storage — enough to accommodate updates in the future. However, it is worth noting that the company has not revealed any plans to perform upgrades to units that have been shipped, or a change in the VCU configuration for future units. Gadgets 360 has reached out to Ola Electric and will update this article when the company responds.

The report does not specify the specifications of the new VCU. When the Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro were launched, the company had revealed that the VCU was powered by an octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM, and offers 4G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity. The company’s official website currently lists the available RAM as 3GB.

When the Ola S1 Pro was launched, the company had also revealed that it would be equipped with a Battery Management System that “actively monitors the battery for optimal durability, performance, range and safety.” According to the tipster, the company is closely monitoring the health of battery cells and battery packs, which can be controlled via the VCU. With several important aspects such as speed, thermal levels, charging control, voltage, power efficiency, diagnosis and monitoring controlled by the VCU, the upgrade could allow for improved software updates that could address some of the issues affecting Ola S1 Pro owners, according to the report.

Last month, Ola Electric stated it would recall 1,441 of its electric scooters, weeks after one of the company’s vehicles caught fire, which prompted an investigation into the incident. The company revealed that it would conduct a diagnostic and health check of scooters in a specific batch, and issued a recall of 1,441 vehicles. The firm had also revealed the preliminary assessment of the vehicle that caught fire revealed that it was an isolated one, and that the recalls were a pre-emptive measure.

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Toyota Said to Make EV Parts in India for Domestic, Export Markets

Toyota plans to make India a manufacturing hub for electric vehicle parts to meet demand there as well as for export to Japan and some ASEAN countries, a senior company executive told Reuters.

The carmaker plans to start by producing e-drives or electric powertrain parts used by different electric vehicle types, including battery EVs, plug-in hybrids and other hybrid models, Vikram Gulati, executive vice president at Toyota Kirloskar Motor said.

“The aspiration is to make India the manufacturing hub for cleaner technologies. This is about creating the building blocks,” Gulati told Reuters.

He did not name the countries in ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, that Toyota would export to.

The move follows the company’s recent announcement that it will invest Rs. 4,800 crore in India to localise the supply chain for EVs, and is also part of its broader 2050 carbon-neutrality goals.

It also comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is offering companies billions of dollars in incentives to build EVs and their parts locally.

The bulk of the investment in India will be made by Toyota’s local unit, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP), a joint venture of Toyota Motor, Aisin Seiki and Kirloskar Systems, the company said on Saturday.

The world’s biggest carmaker said in December it plans to invest $70 billion (roughly Rs. 5,42,295 crore) to electrify its automobiles by 2030, including developing battery EVs as it plays catch-up with global automakers investing billions of dollars in the shift to cleaner vehicles.

In India, however, Toyota is more focussed on launching its hybrid models first, which it believes are better suited to the country’s aim of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and carbon emissions.

Gulati said this would also address varying consumer needs and enable “a faster transition towards an electrified future”.

Building out the supply chain early will help Toyota become competitive in terms of volume and price in India, Gulati said.

Toyota expects this to enable a “faster and smoother” shift for the Indian auto industry to electric-vehicle technology, he added.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal Says Scooter Fires Rare, but Can Happen in Future

There may be more fires in electric scooters in the future but such incidents are very rare, the chief executive of India’s Ola Electric said at a private company event, after safety concerns were heightened by a fire in one of its scooters in March.

Ola’s e-scooter fire was among a spate of similar recent incidents that triggered an uproar on social media and an investigation by the Indian government.

The company, backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group, has recalled more than 1,400 e-scooters and appointed external experts to investigate the cause.

“Will there be occurrences in the future, there might be,” chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal responded, when asked a question about the fires at a private event on Sunday.

“But our commitment is that we will make sure we analyse every issue and if there are fixes to be done we will fix them,” he said, according to a recording from the event reviewed by Reuters.

He described the fires as being “very rare and isolated” in a recording from the event, at which the company previewed a new operating system for its e-scooters.

Fire safety in the automotive industry was a broader issue beyond electric vehicles (EVs), Aggarwal said, adding that petrol-fuelled vehicles had greater need of quality control regulations than the EV industry.

More gasoline-based scooters have caught fire compared with electric models, and this issue pertains to the two-wheeler industry as a whole, Ola Group’s chief financial officer Arun Kumar told Reuters.

Initial findings of the government investigation of the e-scooter fires revealed an issue with Ola’s battery cells and battery management system, Reuters reported last week, though the firm said its battery management system was not at fault.

Incidents of fires involving e-scooters from Indian start-ups Okinawa and PureEV are also being investigated.

“There will be, sometimes, some minor defects in, maybe the cell, maybe something else, which will cause some internal short circuit,” Aggarwal said, adding that Ola had just one incident among its 50,000 e-scooters on the road.

Ola imports its cells from South Korea’s LG Energy Solution. Kumar said all companies should source components responsibly and not from “unqualified Chinese suppliers”, for instance.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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