New Delhi, Dec 19, 2022, TRIPURA TIMES DESK

New Delhi, Dec 19: The government's National Testing House (NTH) on Monday said that it is in the process of establishing a satellite branch at the land port of Tripura state to ensure the import and export of quality products.

It is also mulling another satellite centre for testing rock phosphate fertiliser at ports, NTH Director General Alok Kumar Srivastava said.

 Anticipating a rise in demand for electric vehicles (EVs), the NTH said it will offer testing services for EV batteries and charging systems at its Mumbai and Kolkata centres from the next fiscal.

Currently, the Manesar-based International Centre for Automotive Technology and the Pune-based Automatic Research Association of India (ARAI) are the two agencies in the country providing testing services for EVs and their batteries.

"Electronic vehicles are going to add to our daily lives. In order to have sufficient testing facilities, we are making our labs future-ready as the demand is going to increase," Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary in the Consumer Affairs Ministry, said.

The National Testing House (NTH) is preparing to offer testing services for EV batteries and charging systems at its Kolkata headquarters and Mumbai regional centre from the next fiscal, she told reporters.

The NTH Mumbai and Kolkata centres were chosen because the maximum number of EV makers are located in Pune/Mumbai, while the maximum number of manufacturers of EV batteries are present in Kolkata, Srivastava said.

Testing begins at the manufacturing level, Srivastava said and added good quality products can be made if testing labs are located near the manufacturing units. Imported equipment used in EV making can also be tested at these two NTH centres.

Already, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has come out with performance standards for EV batteries in order to ensure the safety of consumers. NTH, set up in 1912, is one of the largest multidisciplinary testing labs of the central government which caters to quality testing needs in different disciplines.

Besides Mumbai, its other centres are located in Chennai Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and the satellite centre at Varanasi.