Twenty electric scooters of Jitendra EV Tech went up in flames after workers lifted them into a transport container. The Nashik-based company said that it would investigate the root cause of the fire accident.
A spokesperson from Jitendra EV Tech said that the unfortunate incident took place on April 9 near their factory gate. However, they could bring the situation under control immediately through timely intervention. The person added, “Safety being of prime importance, we are investigating the root cause and will soon come out with the findings.”
In recent months, several such accidents involving EVs have happened. On March 29, a Pure EV electric scooter caught fire in Pune. A day before that, on March 28, an Okinawa scooter got ignited in Trichy.
Prior to these accidents, on March 26, an Ola e-scooter went up in flames in Pune. However, the most tragic among them was at Vellore, where two people died after an Okinawa electric scooter caught fire.
The Road Ministry, which has earlier sought reports from Ola electric mobility and Okinawa scooter, said it had taken cognizance of the accident at Jitendra EV Tech.
Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, spoke on the EV fires in Lokshabha on March 31. He said that these incidents could be due to the prevailing high temperature. Nonetheless, the government is awaiting an expert committee report to determine the exact technical reasons behind these accidents and take appropriate actions.
Gadkari added, “This is a very serious issue, and we have ordered a forensic investigation into each individual event.”
A government expert team from the Indian Institute of Sciences and the Centre for Fire, Explosive, and Environment Safety would visit the accident site in Vellore, Pune, and Trichy to investigate.
As per the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association in India, EV sales have grown threefold, reaching 429,217 units in FY22. However, with these recent accidents involving EVs, there is a deep concern among people wanting to migrate to electric vehicles.