PROMIT MOOKHERJEE, KUSHAN MITRA
Several incidents of fire in electric two-wheelers in different parts of India have raised alarm bells not only for the government but also for the entire two-wheeler industry. More importantly, these incidents of fire have been seen in different models of electric two-wheelers. The most recent cases of fire have been reported in electric two-wheelers from Okinawa and Ola. The fear is real that due to such incidents of fire, potential two-wheeler buyers will panic as people have even died in some cases.
In a recent incident in Tamil Nadu, a man and his daughter died after suffocating in the smoke of a fire that started from a two-wheeler set up for charging. These fears are not unfounded as India’s automotive industry still remembers how the Tata Nano was defamed in terms of safety due to a few incidents of fires caused by incorrect wiring. How do these vehicles catch fire? Electric two-wheelers are mostly powered by lithium-ion batteries that contain hundreds of battery cells. The most common cause of battery fire is thermal runaway in these cells.
Under normal conditions, the temperature of a cell increases, but under conditions of high temperature, due to increased pressure, the cell cracks and due to this, the temperature of adjacent cells also increases rapidly. After this, due to increase in the temperature of these hundreds of cells, a phenomenon like thermal runaway occurs, which leads to fire.
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Lithium is one of the lightest metals, making it ideal for use in industries where weight is important. The idea of using a lithium-ion battery has been around for decades, but it took a long time to develop it to be functional. In 2019, scientist John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their research into enabling lithium to be used as a battery. Today lithium batteries are seen all around us. From mobile phones, laptops and children’s toys to electric vehicles – there are lithium batteries in every form and shape.
But despite the research done by these scientists, as well as industrial mining of lithium and production of lithium cells, lithium batteries still remain a problem. Some of the fault lies in a substandard battery because other metals required for the battery and contaminants present in the equipment cause problems but it would not be right to just charge a ‘bad’ battery. Samsung’s mobile phones and Sony VAIO laptops, which were equipped with excellent lithium batteries and yet caught fire during air travel, prove that any lithium battery under pressure can pose a risk. But there is no doubt that despite the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms for batteries, poor quality batteries and chargers are still being fitted in electric two-wheelers running in India.
This can be devastating. Many of these two-wheelers, especially the low-speed ones, are made by companies that have little or no production know-how. They make two-wheelers only by adding kits imported from China. Thermal runaway, which can simply be called very high temperature, can be controlled with adequate cooling and cell management in the initial stage. Cell management is a method that has been adopted in the use of lithium batteries in many expensive things, including expensive cars as well as expensive laptops and mobiles. During cell management, groups of cells are monitored for abnormal activity, and as the temperature rises, that part of the battery is automatically isolated from the rest of the system.
Apart from this, the improved cooling system helps the electric vehicles to automatically cool down more efficiently. It is not surprising that many electric vehicles have a better cooling system than those that run on petrol. But both these measures that protect against thermal runaway are expensive. In the case of cooling system, it is also complicated. This is the reason why most electric two-wheelers sold in India not only have dubious lithium cells but are also air-cooled only.
But adequate cooling systems and cell management are not the only things that create a bad situation. What makes this whole situation worse is the hot weather of India. The battery heats up while charging and discharging. This thing can also be realized in mobile phones as they also use lithium-ion batteries. However, the battery used in mobile phones uses a different process than the two-wheeler battery. You can feel that when you talk on the mobile phone for a long time, its battery gets hot. For example, when Apple’s iPhones or expensive Android phones get too hot, they go into self-protect mode, that is, protect themselves. These phones stop charging themselves when the internal temperature exceeds a set limit.
Impossible to cool down battery fast
You can always carry your phone very easily in your pocket but what is the case with electric two-wheelers running in India’s heat and dust? This is not the case with two-wheelers and even if you get shade somewhere it is not beneficial because in the months of May and June in some parts of North and Central India the temperature can exceed 45 degree Celsius even during the night . It is impossible to cool down a battery that is being charged or has been used for a long time so quickly.
If the number of electric two-wheelers, especially cheap two-wheelers with questionable batteries and no thermal management system, increases, then this could become a big problem. This is a problem that China faced in the early days of using electric two-wheelers during 2016-2018. At that time, electric vehicle fires were reported almost daily in China, especially in hot cities of inner China, such as Chongqing.
However, there is still hope for success. Samsung has re-established its reputation around Galaxy devices. Despite repeated announcements from airports and airlines about Galaxy phones for a few years, Samsung has made the Galaxy extremely secure. Similarly, the laptop industry has also worked on solutions like cooling pads and made laptops more efficient in terms of energy use, due to which the laptop does not get that hot anymore. Moreover, the smart software and balanced sensors present in the device prevent it from overheating and thus there is no possibility of thermal runaway. The important thing is that these solutions will be costly but if India is to reduce carbon emissions then we have to understand that we live in a hot country and heat is important for electric vehicles.
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Prioritizing security over development
The question is, how can we ensure a path of growth for electric two-wheelers in which safety is prioritized over indiscriminate development? The ecosystem of electric vehicles, especially two-wheelers, has evolved at an unprecedented pace. According to some estimates, by 2026, the production capacity of electric two-wheelers, which is currently less than 5 lakhs, may increase to 30 million. This rapid increase in production capacity is expected to come at the expense of conditions that have also manifested during the much more regular growth of the ICE (Information, Communication and Entertainment) ecosystem.
But this pace of development is the danger for the long-term sustainability of this industry. As an immediate action from the central government, a committee should be formed to investigate two incidents of fire in Okinawa and Ola’s electric two-wheeler. It will be important that such investigations are conducted in an impartial manner and based on strong recommendations, which should be followed by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) at any cost, without which they will face heavy fines. The strictest course of action would be to withdraw all affected models until the most urgent issues are resolved. But the move is expected to be unpopular as government incentives have been a major factor behind the rapid growth of electric two-wheelers.
Recently, the Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) has enhanced the incentives provided to electric two-wheelers under the FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles in India) scheme. In such a situation, the government would not want them to take such a drastic step that these industries start to falter. More realistically, policy makers should now put in place a robust monitoring system to ensure that all types of batteries in vehicles are as per the existing standards.
Although the work of certification of any vehicle is done on the basis of small samples, but the reality is that due to the lack of uniform production process, some vehicles may be defective, especially when for high speed production. Due process should be compromised. Apart from this, there is a need to set criteria for more use of highly effective cooling technology. If this leads to an increase in the cost of the vehicle, then one should not worry as it restores the confidence of the consumers in these vehicles.
Apart from the intervention of the government, we can also expect that the producers themselves will learn from this experience and bring about a change in their attitude and behavior. The emphasis should not be on who can achieve the most production capacity, but on who has the safest production process.
Courtesy from https://www.orfonline.org/