The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), organised its 13th lecture on the theme of ‘Electric Vehicles in India: On-Road Safety, Operations & Maintenance’, on a virtual platform recently.
The lecture witnessed insightful presentations by prominent industry experts who deliberated upon various aspects of development of EV aftermarket ecosystem, said a press release.
Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, in his opening remarks said, “With this decade being considered as the decade of electrification, we have embarked on a campaign of ‘walk the talk’ to delve deeper into the electrification of auto mobility.”
Setting the context of the discussion, Mr Sushant Naik, Co-Chairman, SIAM Electric Mobility Group & Global Head, Government Affairs, Tata Motors, said, “EVs are witnessing a growing market in India, which is a positive sign towards electrification. EV development and testing, EV safety, consumer experience of EVs, all these things are therefore important to delve deeper into.”
Speaking on EV aftermarket services, Mr Pradeep Kumar, Head (Vehicle & Customer Care), Ather Energy, highlighted that, in terms of aftersales, there are some inherent advantages that electric vehicles possess. This along with data and connectivity, integrated backend, and front end, takes care of most after sales service requirements, he said.
Emphasising on battery safety design aspects and maintenance, Mr Abhijit Mulay, General Manager, ARAI, said, “In terms of regulations in the domain of battery safety, we have AIS 038, AIS 048, AIS 056 in India, which are aligned to UN R100 and further revisions are happening in India. Earlier the focus was on lithium-ion cells, now it’s on system level approaches like Battery Management Systems, functional safety, thermal safety, closed loop safety etc. Logistics and transportation of EV batteries are also an important aspect. We also have a regulatory standard for this, which is UN38.3.”
Mr Awadhesh Jha, Vice President, Fortum India said, “Battery management systems plays a crucial role in the safety of EVs. Charging an EV is very safe and easy if you are using certified chargers. There are risks involved, however, the scale is miniscule.”
Speaking on the significance of skilling in EV maintenance, Mr Arindam Lahiri, CEO, ASDC said, “In EV, the two most impacted areas are the manufacturing domain and the dealership service domain, so we are bringing awareness programme in sales and providing training to drivers.”
Mr Karthick Athmanathan, Professor, IIT Madras spoke about the ecosystem of Ebus fleet over the years.
