The center on March 28 decided to demand an independent expert team to investigate two incidents of the electric-wheeled vehicle firefighting, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing government sources. Ola electric scooters and Okinawa electric bikes recently caught fire, leaving many customers concerned.
Government sources say: “The center has recorded incidents involving fires in electric vehicles; will investigate them … replacing independent experts to investigate EV cases capturing fire.”
Experts will travel to Vellore and Pune to investigate whether structural or external factors have caused fires in Ola electric scooters and Okinawa electric bicycles.
In particular, both two-wheeled two wheels have been tested and received type approval before being launched. The researchers will try to find out if there are manufacturing defects that affect their operations.
According to Reuters reports, lithium-ion batteries (used in Ola scooters), whether used in electric vehicles or electronic devices, can burn if they have been produced incorrectly or damaged, or if the software operates the battery is not properly designed.
Softbank Group-Backed Ola Electric said last week has also launched an investigation to find out what caused the electric scooter to burn.
Ola launched the probe after Twitter users from Pune sharing videos from the Ola scooter burst on fire.
Responding to it, the company said in a statement: “We are aware of the incident in Pune that occurs with one of our scooters and is investigating to understand the root causes and will share more updates in the next few days.” Really safe customers, added companies.
