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Around 20 electric two-wheelers of Nashik-based Jitendra EV Tech caught fire while they were being transported from the factory in a container.
The company, confirming the incident, said that it was urgently investigating the incident. “An unfortunate incident took place on 9th April near our factory gate in a scooter. The situation was immediately brought under control by timely intervention from our team. Safety being of prime importance, we are investigating the root cause and we will soon come out with findings,” said a spokesperson of the company.
The incident is the latest in a series of incidents where electric two-wheelers have caught fire raising concern about their safety. The spate of incidents have also led to the government initiating an enquiry into the incidents.
This is the sixth incident of fire in electric scooters since the onset of summer.
Government officials said that they are cognizant of the incident that has happened with Jitendra EV and will call the company’s officials for a report on the same. The road ministry has already called senior executives of Ola EV and Okinawa to give a detailed presentation on the issue and will then take a call on the same.
Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, while speaking in Lok Sabha on the EV fire cases on March 31, had said that the incidents may have taken place due to higher temperature. He, however, had said reports from an expert committee were awaited for a final conclusion on the cause behind the fire.
“This is a very serious issue and we have ordered a forensic investigation into each individual event,” said Gadkari, adding that the government will take appropriate action after the exact technical reason behind the accident is known.
A government-appointed team that includes experts from the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and Centre for Fire Explosives and Environment Safety has been deputed to visit and investigate the accident sites in Vellore, Pune and Trichy. Asked whether the high recurrence of such incidents — particularly those involving models from the same companies — merit a stricter action such as a mandatory recall of vehicles, a senior official of the road ministry said that said unless one knows the reason for the mishaps, it would be speculative to comment. “Nobody called for such actions when a popular car brand from a large automobile company saw several cases of its model catching fire,” he pointed out.
EV sales in the country witnessed over three-fold jump last fiscal with two-wheeler offtake leading the segment, according to data compiled by automobile dealers’ body FADA. Total electric vehicle (EV) retails reached 429,217 units in 2021-22, a rise of three-fold from 134,821 units in the financial year 2020-21, the industry body said.
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