NEW DELHI: Indian automakers have urged the government to defer its proposed battery aadhaar policy and exempt electric three-wheelers, citing the need for more time to study global implementation of similar frameworks and challenges in tracing ownership and battery data in the world’s largest electric three-wheeler market, according to two people aware of the development and correspondence reviewed by Mint.
While the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) proposed the policy in January this year, under which batteries would be assigned their own 21-digit aadhaar number, it did not specify an implementation timeline.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) is lobbying for the battery aadhaar policy to be implemented from 2034, allowing India to study the impact of a similar policy in the European Union (EU) and align its compliance timelines accordingly, according to a letter from the industry body to the Union highways ministry.
Experts say that while learning is important, quicker timelines for implementation can be adopted. “It is important to learn from the experience of other nations if similar policies are being used. But at the same time, policies like the battery aadhaar can be rolled out once the gaps from other global examples are filled,” said Amit Bhatt, India managing director of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a global think-tank.
Siam has also called for the exemption of electric three-wheelers— including both L5 and L3 categories—from the battery aadhaar policy given the informality of the segment, said the first of the two persons cited earlier, both speaking on condition of anonymity, with thousands of e-rickshaws plying on urban roads for last-mile connectivity.
L5 category three-wheelers typically have battery capacities in the 8–15 kWh range, while L3 e-rickshaws generally have battery capacities of 3–6 kWh.
“These vehicles, particularly L3 category e-rickshaws, often run on small lead-acid batteries which are not traceable, creating a challenge in tracking battery health. Also, ownership of these vehicles is difficult to trace once the vehicle is sold, and connectivity of these vehicles using subscription-based services is nearly impossible,” said this person.
The proposed identity number will provide key metrics about the battery such as its health, and will allow battery makers, importers, vehicle owners, financiers and insurers to get accurate information about the battery's effectiveness, which makes up for as much as half the cost of an electric vehicle (EV).
Another key use-case is the identification of the origin of batteries, which could help the government assess whether claims of indigenously made batteries under the ₹18,100-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme are correct.
Tracking battery health is crucial for vehicle owners, manufacturers, insurers, and financiers. India is the world's largest electric three-wheeler market, with more than 60% of three-wheelers sold annually in the country being electric.
Queries emailed to the ministry of road transport and highways, Siam, electric three-wheeler makers Mahindra & Mahindra and Euler Motors on 10 July remained unanswered.
Some electric three-wheeler makers say deferring the battery tracking policy in India would help in learning the real-world impact of such policies in other economies, and that exempting electric three-wheelers would prevent a rise in procurement costs for buyers.
“Many buyers of electric three-wheelers, especially L3 e-rickshaws, are in the unorganised market, and earn very limited incomes from these vehicles. Putting on battery-tracking internet-of-things (IoT) devices is expensive, as these devices are subscription-based,” said Pawan Kakkar, managing director of YC Electric, a Delhi-based e-rickshaw manufacturer.
This comes at a time when electric three-wheelers are 55% more expensive than fossil fuel-run counterparts, though the total cost of ownership of the electric models is lower than petrol-dependent ones, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Kakkar of YC Electric said that vehicle financiers already use such devices on the vehicles they fund. “Financiers use such IoT devices to track batteries in the EVs they fund, as they want to know the quality of the asset and prevent any misuse of the battery. But, these are used over a fixed period, approximately for two years after the vehicle is purchased, against a battery life of at least five years for lithium-ion batteries. Now, most e-rickshaws also run on lithium-ion batteries,” said Kakkar.
“Electric three-wheelers are a large market in India. But when it comes to L3 category e-rickshaws, the sector is still informal and developing. There are challenges in tracking lead-acid batteries, but many manufacturers are also making lithium-ion battery-run vehicles now. Safety is crucial in this segment, especially e-rickshaws, as illustrated by the recent spate of vehicle failures due to batteries shutting down due to battery management system vulnerabilities,” said Bhatt of ICCT.
Recent incidents involving e-rickshaw batteries malfunctioning mid-journey due to connectivity-driven vulnerabilities and remote intervention in the battery management system (BMS) raised concerns around the security of EV batteries in India.
Sales of passenger e-rickshaws (L3) rose marginally to 477,745 units in FY26 from 474,372 units in the previous fiscal, Vahan data showed. In the L5 category, passenger three-wheeler vehicle sales rose 75.6% to 237,150 units in FY26 from 135,088 in FY25.