With a spate of incidents in India of electrical scooter fires, there’s been a rising debate and dialogue in regards to the security of mushrooming EV manufacturers and high quality management of merchandise. The dialogue has develop into much more heated with back-to-back incidents of electrical scooters catching fireplace throughout India over the previous week. But what causes a hearth in an electrical two-wheeler, and the way tough is it to forestall a hearth attributable to a short-circuit within the electrical system and battery? carandbike reached out to consultants in India’s electrical automobile ecosystem, together with battery cell producers, EV OEMs and others, to get a way of what precisely goes unsuitable within the booming EV section.
Focus on Safety
With incidents of fireplace reported throughout electrical scooters from Ola Electric, Okinawa and Pure EV in current days, ensuing within the tragic deaths of 1 EV proprietor and his teenaged daughter, the Government of India has now deputed an unbiased crew to probe the incidents and to submit a report. The concept is to develop new customary working procedures (SOPs), formulate new security pointers and probably even new rules across the sorts of batteries, battery administration methods and cells utilized in many electrical two-wheelers.
In all 4 instances reported over a interval of 4 days, the electrical scooters appear to have spontaneously erupted into thick smoke, after which fireplace. In the incident involving an Okinawa electrical scooter, the fireplace unfold to a petrol-powered bike, and the daddy and daughter have been trapped inside their home, resulting in their tragic deaths. Preliminary reviews point out improper use of an older charging socket which probably led to a short-circuit, resulting in the fireplace. The causes of fireplace within the different scooters aren’t clear, though each Pure EV and Ola Electric are conducting their very own investigations and are anticipated to report their findings.
But these rising incidents have put the highlight squarely on EV security, high quality management and associated safeguards close to battery packs and battery administration methods. A bit of trade observers preserve that the EV fires are attributable to cells and the battery designs since these aren’t designed for prime temperatures and the terrain the everyday Indian shopper makes use of EVs in. But it is extra than simply battery design or defective battery administration methods (BMS) which trigger such fires, as carandbike came upon. There’s additionally the bigger query of the standard of EVs being launched nearly daily out there, and if there are sufficient checks and balances to manage security and forestall hazardous incidents like fireplace.
Thermal Runaway & Cell Chemistry
Thermal runaway is the fast and excessive rise in temperature in a cell of the battery. When cells warmth up and initiates the identical response in adjoining cells, it is called thermal runaway propagation. When thermal runaway occurs, it will possibly produce smoke, fireplace and even explosions, all tell-tale indicators of the current electrical scooter fires.
Arun Vinayak, Co-Founder, Exponent Energy and ex-CPO at Ather Energy.
According to Arun Vinayak, Co-founder and CEO of Exponent Energy, a battery and charging applied sciences supplier for the EV market, 99 per cent of battery fires are prompted as a result of quick circuits, which result in the battery cell’s temperature rising main to what’s referred to as a thermal runaway. Vinayak, who was additionally one of many co-founders and Chief Product Officer of Ather Energy, says quick circuits occur for both poor cell high quality, poor bodily design of the battery, and a poor battery administration system (BMS).
Among these, poor BMS resulting in overcharging is the first perpetrator.
Here’s us purposefully overcharging a single cell to showcase cell bulge. You can see cells bulging and flexing a 10mm aluminum plate. That’s a variety of power.Notice no fireplace. pic.twitter.com/qjzFGf9c3M
— Arun S Vinayak (@Arun_Vinayak_S) April 1, 2022
Log9 Materials is one other Bengaluru-based start-up within the area of superior battery expertise. The firm was based in 2015 at IIT Roorkee by three buddies and is now engaged on creating superior vitality storage applied sciences. Speaking to carandbike, Log9 Materials Co-founder Kartik Hajela mentioned that the circumstances of EVs catching fireplace are primarily as a result of two broad causes – battery chemistry and use of improper charging infrastructure.
“One of the reasons is that many of the players in the Indian EV segment have products which are not re-engineered properly. The cell chemistry of the batteries must be re-grouped and made temperature resilient to be efficiently operational in our climate conditions and terrain. Having the proper cell chemistry means to have efficient thermal management systems, and to have resilient technology,” mentioned Hajela.
“The EV segment will consolidate, but right now amongst the OEMs there are those who are in the trading business, using re-branded products rather than using proper re-engineering and innovation in product development. It’s not to say that all players are like that; there are some OEMs which have engineered their products well and have gone through a significant R&D and testing cycle. But there are also others where the fundamental aspects of safety and good user experience are overlooked. These cause problems. And then the charging infrastructure has also not kept pace with EV sales. In fact, home charging should not be promoted, unless there is tailor-made charging infrastructure. The technology should advance for dedicated fast charging rather than just promoting home charging on conventional sockets,” added Hajela.
Kartik Haleja, co-founder of Log9 Materials.
Focus on Cell Selection, Quality & Packaging
There’s additionally the problem of the standard of cell choice and high quality checks. According to some observers, quick circuits additionally occur as a result of grading of cells, how they’re sorted, the sort of connectors used within the batteries, and eventually, the design of the battery pack itself. Oben Electric, a Bengaluru-based electrical automobile start-up has launched its first electrical bike, the Oben Rorr.
“We have to be considerate in designing an EV which meets the requirements of the demographic. In India, in some areas, ambient temperature goes up to 50 degrees Celsius. There has to be a proper cooling solution designed for the battery pack, including cooling technology as well as a heat sink. Effective batteries also depend on cell selection; what kind of cells are used and how they are placed. The way the cells are placed in a battery changes performance. Then the BMS also has to take care of cell balancing. If cells are not balanced properly, thermal runaway can happen because of improper cell balancing,” mentioned Dinkar Agrawal, Co-founder and COO of Oben Electric.
“Our products have an auto cut-off system in the on-board charger, and telematics are measured of the vehicle and battery through a dashboard in the back-end. This dashboard will alert for any anomaly in the system. The problem in the EV segment is also because of white-labelling products, or procuring products from other markets and just re-branding them, without going through a process of re-engineering or a stringent process of quality checks and R&D,” added Madhumita Agrawal, Co- founder and CEO of Oben Electric.
Madhumita & Dinkar Agarwal, co-founders of Oben Electric.
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So, cell chemistry and choosing the proper high quality isnt all the time insurance coverage in opposition to poor high quality batteries which trigger thermal runaway. Battery packaging, how the cells are put collectively, how they’re mechanically positioned and sorted, and the way they’re electrically joined additionally performs a vital function in effectivity and probably even security, avoiding thermal runaways and doable quick circuits. More importantly, consultants say, the mushrooming EV ecosystem, of white-labelling of manufacturers, with out correct R&D, product growth and re-engineering might go away security loopholes which must be addressed. Clearly, whereas the electrical two-wheeler section could also be booming proper now, it can take concerted efforts, each by OEMs, in addition to regulatory our bodies to make sure that the suitable high quality merchandise are being handed on to the shoppers.
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With inputs from NDTV
