Govt Orders Inquiry Into Electric Scooter Fires

The recent unfortunate events of electric scooters catching fires in India have raised a lot of concerns amongst electric scooter customers and manufacturers. The same issue has now also caught the attention of the government of India and to get to the roots of these fires the authorities have ordered a probe into the matter. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) taking the initiative has launched an investigation concerning the recent burning of the Ola Electric scooter in Pune.

According to Road Transport and Highways Secretary Giridhar Aramane, the “Government has ordered probe in the Ola Electric scooter fire incident. Independent experts in science and technology space will probe the incident and submit the report.” Meanwhile, it was also reported by sources that the government will be digging deep into the cause of the fire and a thorough analysis will be done to prevent any such fires in the future.

On the other hand, Ola Electric on the incident stated, “We are aware of an incident in Pune that happened with one of our scooters and are investigating to understand the root cause and will share more updates in the next few days. We’re in constant touch with the customer who is absolutely safe. Vehicle safety is of paramount importance at Ola and we are committed to the highest quality standards in our products. We take this incident seriously and will take appropriate action and share more in the coming days.”

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In addition to the Ola S1 Pro that abalzed in Pune, an Okinawa Autotech electric scooter also caught on fire on the same day in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately, in this case, the lives of a man and his 13-year-old daughter were claimed. The reason according to police sources quoted that the fire was caused due to a short circuit and negligence by the user while charging the vehicle.

Okinawa in its official statement concerning the matter said, “Our heartfelt condolences to the family. As per credible sources, the media, and the local authorities, it is an evident case of short circuit due to negligence in charging the vehicle. We will wait for the complete investigation to unfold,” The company further added, “Our customers’ safety is extremely important to us, and we adhere to the highest quality standards in our electric scooters,”

According to the EV manufacturer, this example has also highlighted the importance of customers understanding proper EV usage and charging requirements. The company added, “As a responsible brand, time and again, we have been coming forward and taking a lot of initiatives to create awareness and educate our customers on the proper usage of electric 2-wheelers and about the possible hazards that they could experience in case of any negligence in taking proper care of the battery of the vehicle,”

Following these two incidents, a third incident was also reported where a Pure EV’s electric scooter caught fire. This time the incident happened near Mathur Toll plaza in Manjampakkam, Chennai. Like all the other electric scooter manufacturers Pure EV also said that it is investigating the incident and the scooter is now at the service centre being analysed.

The company acknowledging the incident stated, “We have taken cognizance of the incident reported with one of our customer vehicle in Tamil Nadu and preliminary information has been obtained from the concerned client and our dealer. The accident vehicle has been brought to our concerned dealer service station for further analysis. We are investigating the incident and will do a thorough assessment. We adhere to the highest safety standards through rigorous internal testing as well as special phase change materials being implemented in our battery packs to avoid rapid fire/blast kind of scenarios.”

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