PM E-DRIVE: GARC Gets Rs 221.13 Crore for EV Testing

The Global Automotive Research Centre (GARC) at Oragadam near Chennai is rebuilding its laboratories with money from the PM E-DRIVE scheme, the Ministry of Heavy Industries said in a note issued on 28 September 2026. GARC functions under the National Automotive Board and is an authorised testing agency under Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, which is what allows it to homologate and certify vehicles and parts for the Indian market. Its existing work spans powertrain, emissions, EMC, fatigue, electric vehicle and safety testing, along with research and development.

What PM E-DRIVE stands for

PM E-DRIVE is the short name of the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement scheme. Its total outlay is Rs 10,900 crore, and out of that sum Rs 780 crore has been set aside only for bringing the country's testing agencies up to date. The scheme remains operational till 31 March 2028.

GARC's share and its new laboratories

GARC has been given Rs 221.13 crore from the scheme. Purchase orders have gone out for very nearly every piece of equipment the centre had proposed, and installation of what has arrived has already started. The facilities being created or modernised are:

• Battery and electric vehicle testing to the AIS-156 standard
• EMI and EMC testing for electric vehicles under AIS-004 Part 3 Rev.1
• A dedicated bay for heavy commercial vehicle testing
• An upgraded powertrain laboratory
• Advanced passive safety testing, with crash dummies and the equipment that calibrates them
• Testing of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or ADAS, with instruments and soft targets
• Testing of automotive components

A camera that sees a crash frame by frame

The addition drawing most attention is a high-speed, high-resolution imaging system. Its UHD-4K cameras record at up to 750 frames per second, while in Full HD the rate rises to 3,000 frames per second. Engineers will use it during frontal, side and rear crash tests to watch how a body shell deforms, how an occupant is thrown about and the exact instant an airbag opens, which is the level of detail a safety analysis and a homologation file both demand.

The figures in one place

The spending matters because a vehicle sold in India has to be certified in India. Stronger laboratories at home mean that electric two-wheelers, buses, battery packs and driver-assistance systems can be cleared without prototypes being flown abroad, and that shortens the distance between a drawing board and a showroom floor.