Electric vehicles in India need not be too silent and should be loud enough to alert pedestrians and those nearby according to new norms proposed by the Automotive Industry Standards Committee (AISC).
The freshly proposed standards cover four wheelers used for the carrying passengers, and those for carrying goods. Car manufacturers will have to ensure that the design of their vehicles is altered appropriately once these draft standard are approved by the permanent Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 (CMVR) Technical Standing Committee (CTSC).
If the existing vehicle design does not permit conforming to this standard, an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), crudely similar to a loudspeaker, will need to be installed by the vehicle manufacturer.
Norms have also been proposed for standardising the installation and dimensions of saree guards used on two-wheelers in India.
“Two-wheers vehicle with pillion rider provision shall be fitted with a protective device on the left side of the rear wheel. The protective device shall be fitted on the left side of the rear wheel, such that it covers an area not less than half of the rear wheel considering the tyre outer diameter,” the draft said.
In addition to these, it has been proposed that Electric Two and Three wheelers need to comply with certain requirements specified under the CMVR.
Another set of draft standards deals with specific requirements for electric power train construction equipment vehicles. The arrangement of foot controls of vehicles has also been addressed in one more set of standards that have been proposed.
Besides there, AISC has addressed the Conformity of Production (CoP) of heavy vehicles to constant speed fuel consumption norms by proposing a set of standards for the same. This covers vehicles with Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and Gross Combination Weight (GCW) exceeding 3.5 tonnes.