Amid concerns about recent electric scooter fires, the center is reviewing the standards for batteries for electric motorcycles. The new standards may focus on ensuring higher production, cell and battery storage and recharging standards, among other safety features.
The government is not currently considering ordering a recall of electric motorcycles, but instead awaits reports from recent fire investigations conducted by the Indian Institute of Science and the DRDO Institute. Earlier, Ministry of Road Transport and High School Secretary-General Giridhar Aramane said that the government is working on consumer safety and will take corrective action in the coming days.
In a recent incident, an electric scooter owner of Okinawa Motor Co., Ltd. was burned down in Tamil Nadu. The electric motorcycle manufacturer recalled 3,215 Praise Pro scooters on April 16th, just before the person died.
In the last 30 days, about 6 cases of electric scooters fires have been reported all over India. On April 9, up to 20 Jitendra New EVTech vehicles loaded into a container in Nashik, Maharashtra were caught in fire . Other EV makers whose vehicles have been involved in such accidents include Ola Electric and Pure EV.
The sale of electric vehicles in India had witnessed a threefold jump last fiscal with two wheelers leading the segment. In the financial year 2021 to 2022, as many as 429,417 electric vehicles were sold, as compared to 134,821 units in 2020 to 2021.
