Battery-swapping design norms to be voluntary, policy to be out this month

The central government is likely to come up with a battery-swapping policy by the end of this month, albeit with a voluntary design standardisation. The decision was taken at the electric vehicle (EV) battery stakeholders’ meeting with the NITI Aayog on Tuesday, headed by the Union Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal. 

According to industry representatives present at the meeting, Goyal agreed to make the standardisation norms optional for battery manufacturers after receiving a request from stakeholders. 

The decision was taken after the industry raised worries about the absence of any mechanism to check the performance of batteries. 

Debi Prasad Dash,