EV battery explosion claims life in Nizamabad, two injured

Adding fuel to concerns around electric vehicle battery safety, a case of battery explosion has been reported. An 80-year-old man died while his wife and grandson suffered burn injuries when the battery of an electric scooter exploded in their house in Nizamabad town on Tuesday night, as per TOI.

The deceased has been identified as B Ramaswamy from Subhashnagar in Nizamabad. According to police, Ramaswamy's son, B Prakash, a tailor, is the owner of the electric two-wheeler.

A case has been registered against the manufacturer, Pure EV. The report suggests that the battery triggered flames after the owner put the battery on charge.

Following rising concerns around EV batteries, the government is planning to come out with norms to put in place quality controls for batteries used in EVs, A senior official from the road transport and highways ministry told ET.

"The fires are a matter of concern... We have informally started directing EV manufacturers to improve (on) their existing vehicles," said the official, adding that work had begun on the proposed battery policy too.

The Nizamabad case is the third instance relating to a scooter manufactured by Pure EV. Three of Okinawa's scooters have caught fire since October, resulting in two being injured. Ola Electric and Jitendra EV are other companies that have seen their electric scooters catch fire in the last three weeks. Ola Electric is still yet to publicly comment on its investigation into the incidents.

Okinawa Autotech will recall 3,215 Praise Pro electric scooters in the first instance of an Indian manufacturer doing so after a spate of recent fires, said to be related to batteries, ET reported.

Earlier, the NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, requested that EV OEMs voluntarily recall batches linked to EV fires.