Safety Testing for Electric Scooters: Following a spate of recent fire incidents, the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune has completed three crash tests of some prominent electric scooters. This could be the first such move in the world where a governing body has crash tested two-wheelers despite the absence of mandatory crash testing regulations for ICE and fully electric two-wheelers. This could be a significant step towards developing standard safety criteria for two-wheelers in India.
ARAI Safety Crash Test for Electric Scooters
According to a recent media report, ARAI claimed that these were done for specific customers and refused to reveal the identity of the OEMs involved. However, this automotive testing agency under the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has shared some details of the tests conducted.
ARAI said that the testing standards were carried out against industry benchmarks, using accelerometers and high-speed cameras to capture detailed crash data. A standard hard barrier and a side pole were used in the tests. Industry stakeholders believe that this latest development could be a significant step towards mandatory electric two-wheeler crash tests in India, which could raise safety standards for electric two-wheelers in the future.
Battery Safety Standards
There have been several fire incidents involving electric scooters in the last few years, in response to which, the Indian government introduced certain battery safety standards. The standards were essentially implemented to prevent OEMs from using cheap and substandard batteries in electric two-wheelers. This also adversely affected the prices of electric two-wheelers, and led to a hike in their prices.
Earlier, OEMs used to import generic battery kits from China to produce electric two-wheelers at cheaper prices. Battery standards can be included in a list of regulations for electric two-wheelers, which can instill more confidence in customers to choose battery-powered two-wheelers. Currently, the share of electric vehicles in India is 5%.
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