January 22, 2025

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Sahara Group’s electric scooter catches fire in Mumbai; fourth fire incident in the industry since September, Auto News, ET Auto

Sahara Group’s electric scooter catches fire in Mumbai; fourth fire incident in the industry since September, Auto News, ET Auto
In the virtually 3 minute long movie, plumes of smoke can be witnessed billowing out of the parked scooter originally right before it is engulfed in fireplace.

In the fourth such incident given that September, movie of nonetheless a different electric scooter on fireplace emerged just lately after yet again highlighting the want for stringent safety laws and their enforcement in India.

The movie is from Andheri in Mumbai and the scooter is X1 from SaharaEVOLS–a Sahara Group organization that ventured into the EV house in June 2019. Before this calendar year, Subroto Roy’s organization tied up with Gwalior based mostly SuperEco Automotive for production 50,000 two and six,000 3 wheelers. The X1 is somewhere around priced at Rs eighty,000 and has a one.9 KWh lithium ion battery with a vary of eighty kilometers and a 250 Watt motor.

In the virtually 3 minute long movie, plumes of smoke can be witnessed billowing out of the parked scooter originally right before it is engulfed in fireplace. It also displays how makes an attempt to douse it with h2o fall short and the blaze could be managed only with the support of a fireplace extinguisher.

When contacted, SuperEco reported they had been scrutinizing the lapse and have achieved out to their third social gathering seller from Bangalore. Queries to SaharaEVOLS went unanswered. We will update when they answer.”As we make autos only and do not make batteries in-property, batteries arrive from a third social gathering seller,” a spokesperson for Super Eco explained to ETAuto. “We have taken up this subject with the battery supplier and it is under scrutiny to discover the root result in.”

This is not a one off. Before this calendar year, two electric scooters from Pure EV caught fireplace followed by a different from Okinawa. There has been a gradual enhance in the quantity of fireplace incidents commensurate with the rise in gross sales across the world as very well. Before this calendar year Common Motors expanded the recall work out for its Bolt EVs by seventy three,000 autos to now incorporate just about every Bolt at any time manufactured, at a price of virtually $ two billion. In the same way South Korean automobile huge Hyundai recalled 82,000 EVs immediately after thirteen incidents of fireplace had been claimed in its compact crossover Kona electric. This involves 456 units of the motor vehicle that it marketed in India.

Sahara Group’s electric scooter catches fire in Mumbai; fourth fire incident in the industry since September, Auto News, ET Auto
Even now from Pure EV viral movie

With a noticeably reduce quantity of moving sections, EVs are comparatively less complicated to make. However, the battery that is at the heart of the auto is sophisticated and the vehicle’s general safety is dependent on the performance of the battery administration system–how very well the battery is cooled and how fantastic the insulation of the pack is from exterior factors.

Even though Super Eco reported it sourced the battery from a area seller, India does not make lithium ion cells of its individual which invariably is imported mainly from China. Market resources say that is where by most of the gray locations exist.

Sahara Group’s electric scooter catches fire in Mumbai; fourth fire incident in the industry since September, Auto News, ET Auto
Subroto Roy’s organization tied up with Gwalior based mostly SuperEco Automotive for production 50,000 two and six,000 3 wheelers.

“In the Indian EV phase there is a large amount of dependence on imports particularly for batteries so a system demands to be put in spot so that safety-similar incidents can be prevented or minimized,” reported Suraj Ghosh, associate director, IHS Markit. “The safety problems are extra in the two wheeler class as it’s dense with new firms that could not have the acquiring potential or the entry to higher grade batteries from credible suppliers but have to face price tension to qualify for the FAME and other condition-amount incentives and be competitive.”

Low entry barrier, the guarantee of higher growth and a ready manufactured sourcing vacation spot in China–world’s major electric auto marketplace, has led to scores of firms mushrooming almost right away. With the classic players not absolutely dedicated to the EV story, the discipline is broad open up for newer players to emerge. Not everyone is a long term player and the anxiety is non serious players slicing corners to end up providing the general industry a undesirable identify.

“Now, the stage which India’s EV journey is presently at, any adverse incident could potentially dent the perception of EVs between purchasers,” Ghosh of IHS included. “So, it’d be highly recommended if the industry will come up with a solution to deal with this, possibly a self-certification software or one assisted by the involved industry bodies.”

Check out: Movie of SaharaEVOLS’ X1 on fireplace surfaced on social media: