Bureau of Indian Standards, the National Standards Body of India is a statutory body functioning under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India. It operates various schemes like Product Certification (ISI mark), Management Systems Certification, Hall Marking of Gold and Silver Jewellery/Artefacts and Laboratory Services for the benefit of the industry and in turn aiming at consumer protection.
Bureau of Indian Standards, Chennai Branch Office organised the MANAKMANTHAN on “Manak Manthan on “Indian Standards for ELECTRIC VEHICLES" in Chennai 0n 28 June 2023.
Ms.G Bhavani, Scientist-E/Director & Head (Chennai Branch Office) explained the programme Objectives. She also stated that BIS has started organizing new series of discussion-programmes titled “Manak Manthan” for the benefit of industry which is scheduled on every month, and is envisaged to launch new standards and share important revisions / amendments and wide circulation drafts to local manufacturers, Industrial and Trade Bodies, Chambers of Commerce, Industry Associations, PSU’s or organizations who use such products, Government departments, Regulatory bodies, Laboratories, Civil society groups and Academia.
India has been a latecomer to the electric vehicle market, with only around 0.1% of total vehicles being electric. However, in recent years, the Indian government has implemented a series of policies and initiatives to boost the adoption of EVs. For instance, the government has launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, which provides financial incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles. In this context, it becomes of utmost importance that the quality, safety & reliability of the EV infrastructure is assured. Standards play a major role in ensuring the safety, quality, reliability, compatibility and inter-operability of the related infrastructure created in the state, be it EV charging stations or Battery Swap stations.
Bureau of Indian Standards, the National Standards Body of India, has released 11 standards for EV conductive charging systems and 2 standards for Battery swap systems, in addition, to several standards on individual components of an electric vehicles
Considering that the country is expecting a massive growth in the EV industry and its supporting infrastructure, it is of paramount importance that the growth is aligned with standards and quality is assured every step of the way. To achieve this, all the stakeholders involved in the creation and implementation of EV infrastructure & policy needs to be aware about the Indian Standards on the topic. Also, stakeholder interaction is important to ensure that the standards are inclusive in nature and reflect the actual ground scenario.
Mr.. USP Yadav, Scientist-F & Deputy Director General (Southern Region) delivered the Key note address. During his speech he informed the participants that Climate change has made a bis impact in our life. The cities are getting overloaded and polluted. Every country is trying to reduce the carbon emission. Transport is one of the main causes of carbon emission. The immediate solution is to convert the fuel usage by electric usage. But the challenge would be disposal of batteries/recharge etc and Standardization of EV will help answering to these challenges.
Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Scientist-F & Deputy Director General (Standardization-I) delivered the Inaugural address. During his speech he addressed that Standards ensure the quality of the product and BIS being the National Standards Body, makes Standards keeping the National Interests in mind to protect health & safety consumers, protect environment and user friendliness. Challenges like Range of the EV, Charging Stations, Safety etc shall be addressed in the Standards.
More than 100 Stakeholders of the subject matter attend the programme.