NEW DELHI: Tightening norms to make e-rickshaws and e-carts safer and to ensure that they comply with quality standards, the govt will make it mandatory for all manufacturers to undergo audit of their production facilities, with the latter being required to maintain proper quality control over their products from April next year.Grant of type approval for a new model will be granted only after audits of manufacturing facilities by vehicle testing agencies. This will ensure that only genuine players with proper facilities and quality control manufacture these vehicles, which have become the most popular mode of last-mile connectivity. Officials said the new norms will also help eliminate players who are only assembling accessories and motors after importing them and drive out fly-by-night firms.The road transport ministry has issued a draft notification detailing these mandatory provisions to be introduced in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, after extensive consultations with industry associations. “This request has come from the industry bodies. There is a need to have regulations as e-rickshaws and e-carts are becoming very popular across urban and rural areas. There is a need to ensure that only good quality e-rickshaws ply on roads,” said an official.For greater safety, the ministry has proposed to reduce the validity of a “fitness certificate” for these vehicles to just one year compared to the current provision of three years. This provision for obtaining a fitness certificate every year is aimed at ensuring that electric vehicles are maintained properly and don’t run at speeds beyond the permissible limit of 25 kmph.The ministry has also made it mandatory for all such vehicles manufactured after April 2027 to have lithium-ion batteries in place of acid lead batteries, windscreen wipers, features for greater stability and a mechanism to ensure that motors can’t be tweaked to drive them at more than 25 kmph.As per govt data, over 16 lakh e-rickshaws have been registered across the country in the past five years, and there are more than 400 e-rickshaw manufacturers in India at present.