Featured image credit: Image: Vauxford via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Source

By Piyush P. Yadav

The most expensive component in an electric vehicle is the one Indian law says nothing about at the point of resale. On 7 September 2026, at NITI Aayog’s fifth e-FAST India Summit in New Delhi, the Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, V. Umashankar, told an audience of truck makers and financiers that greater transparency around battery health could address the financing concerns holding back electric freight, and that battery-health monitoring systems could improve resale values and reduce financing risk. It was a striking admission from the ministry that writes the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, because it confirmed what used-EV buyers, lenders and insurers have known for two years: India has no mandatory standard for measuring, certifying or disclosing the state of health of an EV battery when the vehicle changes hands. This explainer sets out what the rules do and do not cover, what the European Union and California have already legislated, and what a buyer can insist on today while the ministry decides whether to act.

What exists today, and what it does not do

India has three pieces of regulation that touch EV batteries, and none of them addresses the question that matters at resale: how much capacity is left.

Rule Who issues it What it covers What it does not cover
AIS-156 and AIS-038 Rev 2 MoRTH, via CMVR Safety of the traction battery when new: thermal propagation, vibration, water ingress, cell quality. Two-phase rollout in 2022. Capacity loss over time. A pack can pass AIS-156 and still be at 65 per cent health.
Battery Pack Aadhaar Number (BPAN) Central government, 2026 A 21-character identity for every pack: chemistry, maker, capacity at manufacture, vehicle it was fitted to. Current state of health. It identifies the battery; it does not measure it.
Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 MoEFCC Collection, recycling and extended producer responsibility at end of life. Anything that happens between first sale and scrappage.
Form 29/30 transfer of ownership State RTOs Change of registered owner. No field for battery health, warranty status or replacement history.

We covered the safety standards in our explainer on AIS-156 and AIS-038 Rev 2 and the identity scheme in our guide to the Battery Pack Aadhaar. The gap between the two is the problem. The Aadhaar tells you which pack you are buying and the AIS tells you it was safe when built; nothing tells you, in a form you can rely on, how much of its rated capacity remains.

Why the ministry is talking about it now

The trigger is freight, not private cars. Electric truck deployments rose from 201 in FY2025 to 826 in FY2026, and NITI Aayog’s own summit material puts the barriers in plain terms: fragmented demand, high financing costs and battery-related uncertainty about residual values. A financier lending against a Rs 1.2 crore electric truck needs to know what the truck will be worth in year five, and that is almost entirely a function of the battery. Without a standard way to state its health, lenders either refuse the loan or price it as if the battery will be worthless, which is one reason electric truck loans are priced above diesel ones. The same logic applies to a Rs 12 lakh Nexon EV, just with smaller numbers: our analysis of used electric car values in India found that the absence of a trusted health figure is the single biggest reason EVs depreciate faster than petrol cars.

The Secretary’s remarks are the first time MoRTH has linked battery-health disclosure to resale value in a public forum. They stop well short of a commitment to notify a rule, and no draft has been published under the CMVR. But the ministry has already built the plumbing: the Battery Aadhaar creates a unique identifier per pack, and a health value is a field that could be attached to that identifier and updated at each service or transfer.

What the EU and California have done

Two jurisdictions have legislated exactly the disclosure India lacks, and both give a sense of what a workable Indian rule might look like.

Jurisdiction Instrument What it requires From when
European Union Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, battery passport Every EV and industrial battery over 2 kWh must carry a digital passport reachable by QR code, with static data (chemistry, carbon footprint, recycled content) and dynamic data including state of health and remaining capacity, accessible to owners, repairers and buyers. 18 February 2027
California (and ACC II states) Advanced Clean Cars II, CARB Every zero-emission vehicle must display a battery state-of-health reading in the vehicle. The pack must retain at least 70 per cent of its original range or capacity for 8 years or 100,000 miles, and the warranty transfers to subsequent owners. Model year 2026

The two approaches differ in where the number lives. The EU puts it in a database tied to the battery; California puts it on the dashboard. Either would work in India. The BPAN already gives the country an EU-style identifier, and most Indian EVs from Tata, Mahindra, Hyundai and MG already compute a state-of-health figure internally that could be displayed on the instrument cluster with a software update. What is missing is the rule that requires the figure to be shown, the method by which it must be calculated, and the consequence for misstating it.

What a good Indian rule would need to specify

  • A single method. State of health can be calculated from usable capacity, from internal resistance, or from a manufacturer’s proprietary model. Two cars with identical packs can show different numbers because they use different methods. A rule must fix the method, most sensibly usable energy at a defined discharge rate against the rated figure recorded in the BPAN.
  • Display and data access. The number should be visible on the cluster and readable through the OBD port by any authorised workshop, so that a buyer does not have to trust the seller’s phone app.
  • Disclosure at transfer. Form 29/30 needs a field for the state of health on the date of transfer, signed by both parties, the way odometer readings are recorded today.
  • Warranty transfer. Most Indian EV battery warranties already transfer to the second owner, but the rule should make it mandatory, because a certified health figure is worthless if the warranty behind it does not follow the car.

What the data says about how fast Indian batteries actually fade

The absence of a standard does not mean the absence of data. Our review of real-world EV battery degradation in India found that most Indian LFP-equipped cars lose capacity far more slowly than buyers assume, and that the outliers are almost always cars that were fast-charged daily or left at 100 per cent through the summer. That is better than most buyers assume, which is precisely the point: a disclosure rule would help sellers of well-kept cars as much as it would protect buyers from badly kept ones. Today a three-year-old Nexon EV at 95 per cent health and one at 82 per cent health sell for about the same money, because the buyer cannot tell them apart.

What a buyer can demand today

Until the ministry acts, the burden is on the buyer. These are the checks that stand in for a standard.

  1. Ask for the manufacturer’s health report. Tata, Mahindra, MG and Hyundai dealers can print a battery diagnostic from the service tool. Insist on one dated within the last week, on dealer letterhead, with the vehicle identification number on it.
  2. Read the app. Tata’s and MG’s owner apps show a state-of-health percentage. Ask the seller to log in in front of you. Treat a figure that cannot be shown as a figure that does not exist.
  3. Do a full-charge range test. Charge to 100 per cent, note the displayed range, and compare with the manufacturer’s claimed figure for that variant. A displayed range under 80 per cent of the original at full charge is the threshold at which you should either walk away or price the car as if the pack needs replacing within three years.
  4. Check the warranty is transferable and unbroken. Most Indian EV battery warranties cover 8 years or 1.6 lakh km to 70 per cent health, but several are void if the car was serviced outside the network or the pack was opened. Get the service history from the dealer, not the seller.
  5. Look up the BPAN. Where the pack has a Battery Aadhaar, the number confirms the pack in the car is the pack that was fitted at the factory. A mismatch means a replacement, which is not necessarily bad but should be documented.

What happens next

The realistic timeline is that MoRTH consults on a battery-health field for the BPAN and the transfer forms in FY2027, with implementation after the EU passport goes live in February 2027 and after manufacturers have a year of Battery Aadhaar data to calibrate against. The freight sector will get it first, because NITI Aayog’s new demand-aggregation platforms depend on lenders being able to price residual value. Private car buyers will follow. Until then, the tools above are the only standard there is.

Sources & Further Reading

Frequently asked questions

Is there a legal requirement in India to disclose EV battery health when selling a used EV?

No. As of September 2026 there is no rule under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules requiring a state-of-health figure to be measured, certified or disclosed at transfer of ownership. AIS-156 covers safety when new and the Battery Pack Aadhaar identifies the pack, but neither states remaining capacity.

What did the MoRTH Secretary say about battery health?

At the e-FAST India Summit on 7 September 2026, V. Umashankar said greater transparency around battery health could address financing concerns and that battery-health monitoring systems could improve resale values and reduce financing risk. No draft rule has been published.

What do the EU and California require?

From 18 February 2027 every EV battery over 2 kWh sold in the EU must carry a digital battery passport that includes state of health. Under California’s Advanced Clean Cars II, from model year 2026 every zero-emission vehicle must display battery state of health and retain 70 per cent for 8 years or 100,000 miles.

How can I check battery health on a used EV in India today?

Ask the dealer for a dated diagnostic printout, have the seller show the state-of-health figure in the owner app, do a full-charge range test against the claimed figure, confirm the battery warranty is transferable and unbroken, and check the Battery Pack Aadhaar matches the pack in the car.