Ola Electric became the latest among the e-scooter makers that has begun the exercise of recalling a specific batch of its model after a rap on the knuckle by the government.
Meanwhile, the concerns around the lithium ion-powered scooters deepened further after yet another fatal accident in Vijayawada claimed the life of a 40-year old man called K Siva Kumar. The tragedy struck the family of four a day after they had purchased the Boom Corbett 14 electric scooter.
The incident occurred after the swappable battery of his electric scooter from Boom Motors blew up while it was being charged. Three others, his wife and two daughters received severe burn injuries when the swappable battery of his electric scooter from Boom Motors blew up while it was being charged, according to media reports. A statement from Boom is awaited.
A local police official told Business Standard that the bike was supposed to get its registration on Monday. “He bought an e-bike and the same day the family had put the battery on charging mode and around 3.30 am neighbours heard the voice of battery explosion. His family is in ICU and in serious condition, though out of danger. At present, we have registered a case under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for death due to battery blast,” said NV Suryanarayana, station house officer of Suryaraopet police station in Vijayawada.
Meanwhile, Ola Electric is conducting a pre-emptive diagnostics and health check on 1,441 scooters, it said in a statement on Sunday. The Bhavesh Aggarwal-run firm is recalling the model amid multiple issues facing its maiden S1 Pro model including a fire incident on March 26.th
Ola is the third e-scooter manufacturer to call its model back after several fire incidents have been reported across the country on the lithium-ion powered scooters. Earlier this month, Okinawa Autotech and Pure EV recalled 3000 and 2000 units of their models respectively.
In a statement, Ola said that it’s recalling some units of the model even as the company’s “internal investigation into the March 26th vehicle fire incident in Pune is ongoing and the preliminary assessment reveals that the thermal incident was likely an isolated one.”
It said as a pre-emptive measure, it would be conducting a detailed diagnostics and health check of the scooters in that specific batch and therefore are issuing a voluntary recall of 1,441 vehicles.
These scooters will be inspected by Ola Electric’s service engineers and would go through a thorough diagnostics across all battery systems, thermal systems as well as the safety systems, it said in the statement.
“We strongly support adopting a world class EV safety policy and standards architecture in India to ensure high quality products which enhance customer confidence in furtherance of our commitment towards our customers’ safety and grow the nascent EV industry,” Ola said.
The company’s battery pack already complies with and is tested for AIS 156, the latest proposed standard for India, in addition to being compliant with the European standard ECE 136, it said.
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