Show cause notices sent to EV manufacturers

NEW DELHI: Alarmed at the unabated EV fire incidents, the Centre has now sent show cause notices to EV manufacturers like Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech and Pure EV, among others, warning them of penal action needed to be taken against them for delivering faulty electric two-wheelers to the public.

Sources said that the EV makers have been given time till July end to respond in detail to the notices. Once the responses are in, the government will decide which penal action is to be taken, if any, against the EV makers at fault.

The preliminary findings from the government-constituted probe committee on EV fires also identified issues with battery cells or design in nearly all of the fire incidents. The experts found defects in battery cells as well as battery design in nearly all EV fires.

The DRDO also found serious defects in the EV two-wheeler batteries. These defects occurred because the electric two-wheeler manufacturers like Okinawa Autotech, Pure EV, Jitendra Electric Vehicles, Ola Electric and Boom Motors may have used “lower-grade materials to cut costs”, the DRDO probe had revealed.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has now issued new performance standards for lithium-ion batteries to safeguard the consumers amid the rising EV fire episodes in the country.