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Since December 2022, battery-related standards, AIS-038 Rev.2 and AIS-156, have been mandatory and serve as the non-negotiable foundation of India’s EV safety framework. AIS-038 Rev. 2 applies to traction battery systems in M and N category vehicles, while AIS-156 covers L category vehicles, including two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and quadricycles. Both standards require thermal runaway propagation testing and a microprocessor-controlled BMS with full cell-level protection functions.
As stated in AIS 308 standard, “The REESS or vehicle system shall provide a signal to activate the advance warning indication at least 5 minutes prior to the presence of a hazardous situation caused by thermal propagation in the REESS.", it indicated the importance of adopting effective thermal runaway management strategies.
Meanwhile, in real-world operating conditions, India presents unique challenges, including high ambient temperatures, humidity variations, and frequent traffic congestion. These factors accelerate battery aging and increase thermal stress accumulation, thereby raising the risk of thermal runaway events. As a result, there is a growing demand for earlier, more precise, and more reliable battery safety monitoring technologies.
Thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries is a multi-stage process. In the initial stage, internal side reactions begin to occur within battery cells, leading to the gradual release of trace gases and fine particulate matter, which typically occurs when temperature significantly rises. As the reaction progresses, internal pressure and temperature increase rapidly, eventually leading to thermal propagation and potentially fire or explosion.
Conventional Battery Management Systems (BMS) primarily rely on voltage, current, and temperature signals. However, these macroscopic parameters often fail to capture early-stage micro-level chemical decomposition, resulting in delayed warning signals and limited response time.
To address the limitation, monitoring particulate concentration changes within the battery pack by adopting aerosol-based sensing technologies, becomes an effective method to indirectly detect early abnormal chemical reactions.
Compared with traditional electrical parameter monitoring, aerosol detection provides several key advantages, including capturing early-stage decomposition behavior, higher sensitivity to micro-level changes that enables detection after temperature escalation occurs, and its role as a complementary data source that strengthens multi-parameter fusion within BMS safety logic. Together, these benefits make aerosol sensing a promising approach for improving early-stage diagnostic capability and overall lithium-ion battery safety.
As an automotive Tier 1 supplier with an IATF 16949 certificate, Cubic, a leading manufacturer of gas sensors and gas analyzers, has leveraged its mature light scattering technology and developed the li-battery safety aerosol sensor ATRS-1031, an automotive-grade infrared (LED) light-scattering particle sensor specifically designed for early warning of thermal runaway events.
Cubic ATRS-1031 is built on a mature automotive-grade development platform, optimized for long-term reliability, environmental durability, and system integration flexibility. It employs infrared LED light-scattering technology to detect particulate matter concentration in real time, to continuously monitor aerosol concentration changes within battery packs, and to detect early-stage particulate emissions that are closely associated with the onset of thermal runaway events. Compared with traditional approaches, the sensing method allows earlier detection of abnormal chemical activity within the battery system.
The sensor is set at a critical aerosol concentration threshold of 5000 µg/m³, which serves as an early warning trigger point. Once the threshold is exceeded, the sensor immediately outputs a signal to the battery management system (BMS), enabling timely activation of early-stage safety intervention strategies. The mechanism allows the vehicle system to respond before thermal escalation reaches a dangerous level.
For better automotive system integration, Cubic ATRS-1031 supports CAN bus communication, allowing real-time transmission of measured data to the vehicle’s BMS, which enables seamless integration into existing automotive electronic architectures. In addition, the sensor is equipped with wake-up output and request input functions, which enhance interaction reliability between subsystems and ensure stable operation in safety-critical environments where fast and deterministic response is required.
The sensor also incorporates a high-reliability interface design, where wake-up output and request input functions support stable system coordination and fail-safe operation within vehicle control systems. To ensure energy efficiency, it supports a low-power consumption mode, reducing overall energy usage during normal operation while maintaining continuous monitoring capability.
In addition, the ATRS-1031 is designed according to automotive-grade circuit standards, providing strong resistance to vibration, electromagnetic interference, and other harsh operational conditions commonly encountered in vehicle environments. Key components are independently developed and manufactured in-house, ensuring consistent quality control, extended lifetime, and stable performance throughout the product lifecycle. The sensor is further optimized for harsh environmental adaptability, making it suitable for high-temperature, high-dust, and high-vibration conditions in the Indian market.
As the Indian EV market continues to expand, battery safety remains a critical priority. Early detection of thermal runaway is not only required by regulations but also essential for safeguarding lives and property. As an automotive Tier 1 supplier certified to IATF 16949, Cubic operates under a robust automotive-grade quality management system and brings extensive experience in automated mass production, which ensures high reliability and scalability of its automotive gas sensors, providing OEMs with a dependable and adaptable sensing solution for thermal runaway detection, supporting enhanced battery safety and the sustainable development of electric mobility.
For more product information, please click on https://en.gassensor.com.cn/LibatteryThermalRunawaySensor/info_itemid_2280.html or contact: sales@gassensor.com.cn.
