EV fires: Boom Motors recalls Corbett bikes, stops production temporarily

Coimbatore-based electric two-wheeler manufacturer Boom Motors has decided to recall its bike Corbett and stop production temporarily. Boom will be the fourth company to recall its E2W brands involved in fire incidents, after Okinawa, PureEV and Ola Electric.

Gurugram-based Okinawa Autotech had recalled 3,215 vehicles and Hyderabad-based-Power Using Renewable Energy (PURE) EV another 2,000 early this month. Later, Ola Electric recalled 1,441 S1 Pro scooters, in a specific batch. Last week, a 40-year-old man was killed and three others injured in Nizamabad after a fire incident in which a Boom Motors' bike was involved.

There were media reports that the government had asked electric two wheelers to refrain from new launches. However, later the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways denied the news. “The ministry wishes to clarify that there is no such instruction and such reports are unfounded, misleading and far from the truth,” the ministry said.

Industry players indicated that in order to keep tabs on the mushrooming of Lithium ion battery manufacturers in the country, the government should standardise the quality and establish stringent manufacturing norms for all the manufacturers. “We need to understand that an EV is different from an ICE Vehicle. With EV we need to maintain a fine balance between speed of the vehicle and the range it provides. We should not get in the race of giving high speed vehicles without doing necessary research work. All the OEMs should maintain international standards of quality not only at the product development stage but should also at the time of mass production,” said Sushant Kumar, founder and managing director at AMO Electric Bikes.

So far at least eight incidents of EV fires have been reported in just over a month’s time. The first such incident happened in Vellore when a 49-year-old man and his daughter died after their electric scooter reportedly caught fire on March 25. The reported incidents included three Pure EV, two Okinawa, one Ola, one Boom Motors' and around 20 Jitendra EV scooters.

“Customers need to be educated on how to maintain their electric vehicle, specifically the battery. One should always use genuine accessories, using spurious or unauthorised accessories may become a reason for such unpleasant events,” Kumar said. “Customers as well as OEMs need to control the temptation of having high-speed vehicles. This area requires research and development and we as an OEM need to understand our responsibility and provide fast charging and high-speed options only in the recommended range,” he added.

Manufacturers are also asking users to keep the external environment in mind while using an EV. “At the time of charging, we should make sure that the outside temperature is not too hot and the ventilation is proper to regulate the temperature. When the vehicle is not in use, we can switch off the MCB to avoid any such incidents,” he added.