{"id":126363,"date":"2022-03-31T09:04:39","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T09:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=126363"},"modified":"2022-03-31T09:04:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T09:04:39","slug":"how-safe-are-indias-electric-scooters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/how-safe-are-indias-electric-scooters\/","title":{"rendered":"How safe are India’s electric scooters?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The government-appointed expert committee, which probes incidents of Ola Electric’s S1 Pro and Okinawa vehicles catching fires, has added the latest case of fire involving PureEV electric scooter to its investigation, a senior government official told Business Standard<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “A team comprising experts from Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) are investigating the cases.<\/p>\n “As soon as the report is submitted, we shall take appropriate action,” said Giridhar Aramane, secretary at the ministry of road transport and highways.<\/p>\n Videos of a PureEV electric scooter model engulfed in flames in Chennai went viral on social media Tuesday night.<\/p>\n It was the fourth such incident involving e-scooters within a week, putting in doubt the safety of battery-operated two-wheelers.<\/p>\n It wasn’t a one-off for the Hyderabad-based PureEV.<\/p>\n In September 2021, two of its EPluto 7G models caught fire. A company statement on the latest mishap indicated the fire was caused by “Thermal Runaway scenario”, where a battery’s cells reach a critical temperature that causes them to spontaneously combust.<\/p>\n “We are investigating the incident and will do a thorough assessment.<\/p>\n “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,” the company said about the fire at Mathur toll plaza at Manjampakkam area in north Chennai.<\/p>\n The Okinawa EV fire in Vellore on Saturday killed a man and his 13-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n There were no casualties in the Ola vehicle fire in Pune.<\/p>\n PureEV said that the following mechanisms are in their batteries for the worst-case thermal runaway scenarios and to give adequate warning time periods to end users.<\/p>\n It claimed that “PURE batteries come with the state-of-the art thermal management system, which is a combination of the electronics coupled with multiple active\/passive materials, to avoid the thermal-runaway events.<\/p>\n We also have a special vent mechanism so that the smokes get released immediately whenever there is any kind of event inside the battery, otherwise, a pressure cooker kind of scenario can take place, leading to sudden blast\/explosion,” it added.<\/p>\n India has seen quite a few cases of e-scooter fires in the recent past.<\/p>\n In December 2021, a 60-year-old man was choked to death and four others were injured in Kanhai village, Gurugram, after their electric two-wheeler exploded while charging at home.<\/p>\n In the same month, electric bike X1 from Gwalior-based company Super Eco caught fire in Mumbai.<\/p>\n In September 2021, there was a fire involving an Okinawa electric scooter.<\/p>\n Experts believe that given the novelty of the technology and an underdeveloped testing system, the government should introduce a mandatory recall policy for EVs.<\/p>\n If anything it also puts a question mark on the testing agencies that give the type approval to the vehicles.<\/p>\n “Are they doing enough rounds of safety checks and audits? Maybe not,” said an industry veteran on automobile safety.<\/p>\n