April 14, 2022
Blog Admin
Incidents of 
Half a dozen electric vehicles catching fire have been reported over the last fortnight . Concerned over the increasing number of electric two-wheelers catching fire, the government has intensified the investigation into these incidents with the team of more specialists.
Experts from the Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam, Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), and Indian Institute of Science, have been roped in and more members would be added. The team comprises battery and thermal management specialists.
Half a dozen incidents of electric vehicles catching fire have been reported with the latest being one accident reported in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, on Monday involving a scooter made by Okinawa. On April 9, as many as 20 vehicles of Jitendra New EV Tech loaded in a container in Nashik, Maharashtra, caught fire. Other EV makers whose vehicles have been involved in such accidents include Ola Electric and Pure EV.
The entire EV ecosystem will be reviewed, and once the team submits its report, the government is expected to put out guidelines for testing standards, manufacturing, storage and transportation. More regulations can be expected, especially for low-speed electric vehicles currently exempt from certification. In all this, safety will assume top priority, officials said, adding that the government was engaging with companies, experts and testing agencies to discuss the remedial measures needed to improve EV safety.
Jitendra New EV said it had engaged domain experts to probe the accident and that the in-house technical team would assist it. The incident took place near the company’s factory gate when 40 scooters were being transported in a container truck; 20 were destroyed. The company spokesperson said the fire may have been caused by the high temperature. Sales head Akshay Bhanushali did not disclose where the batteries had been sourced from.
Experts have said battery technology is not state-of-the-art and is one of the reasons for the accidents. They point out these are poorly designed and cannot withstand high temperatures. Others have said the EVs themselves are not well-designed and that they are not properly tested before being delivered to customers.