Each and every electric scooter fire incident will be probed:Transport Secy

As more cases of electric scooters catching fire are being reported across the country, Road Transport and Highways Secretary Giridhar Aramane on Sunday said that each and every incident will be probed. He also asserted that despite this, if the manufacturers quickly establish necessary functional safety protocols, quality control and quality assurance systems, the country's EV industry is bound to prosper and grow.

Aramane also said that an expert panel has been formed to enquire into the electric vehicle fire incidents but a report from the team is still awaited. "All the problems and the procurement, design, management, operations, manufacturing of the batteries and electric vehicles have to be examined," he said, adding following that appropriate recommendations will be given.

Recently, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had said the EV companies that are found being negligent will be penalised and a recall of all defective vehicles will be ordered after the expert panel submits its report. The government had ordered a probe last month after an e-scooter launched by Ola Electric had caught fire in Pune (Read full report).

So far, incidents of So Pure EV, one Ola, Okinawa, and 20 Jitendra EV scooters catching fire. Even today, an incident of an electric scooter catching fire in Tamil Nadu's Hosur has come to light but fortunately, the owner did not get hurt as he jumped off the vehicle when he noticed fire coming out from under the seat.

As a pre-emptive measure in the wake of such incidents, Ola Electric last month recalled 1,441 units of electric two-wheelers to be inspected by the company's service engineers. These scooters will go through a thorough diagnostics across all battery systems, thermal systems as well as the safety systems.

Last month, Okinawa Autotech also recalled over 3,000 units of its electric scooters while Pure EV recalled around 2,000 units.

(with inputs from PTI)