Govt to enhance EV testing facilities from next fiscal

NEW DELHI: With the government expecting a spike in demand of electric vehicles, the state-owned National Testing House (NTH) on Monday said that it will provide testing services for batteries of these vehicles in its Mumbai and Kolkata centres from 2023-24 onwards.

As of now, the Manesar-based International Centre for Automotive Technology and the Automatic Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune are the two agencies in the country providing testing services for electric vehicles’ batteries.

Additional Secretary, Consumer Affairs Nidhi Khare, said on Monday with rising number of electric vehicles, adequate number of testing facilities are required. For this purpose, the government is making the existing facilities future-ready, she said.

Khare told mediapersons in a press conference that the NTH is preparing to offer testing services for electric vehicles’ batteries and charging systems at its Kolkata headquarters and Mumbai regional centre from the next fiscal.

The two centres of Mumbai and Kolkata were chosen because the maximum number of electric vehicles makers are located in Pune and Mumbai, while the maximum number of manufacturers of electric vehicles’ batteries are present in Kolkata, NTH Director General Alok Kumar Srivastava said.

Testing begins at the manufacturing level, Srivastava said and added good quality products can be made if testing labs are located near the manufacturing units.