The government has issued notice to Bhavesh Aggrawal-led Ola Electric over the recent electric scooter fire incidents.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) under the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry has sought a reply from Ola Electric over the fire incidents within 15 days.
According to a Business Standard report, the notice was issued to Ola Electric in mid-June after the CCPA took suo motu cognisance of the the fire incidents being reported in the electric vehicles.
Earlier last month, the CCPA issued notices to Pure EV and Boom Motors after their e-scooters exploded.
The consumer watchdog has asked Ola Electric to explain the reasons for the fire. It has also sought the details quality standards being implemented by the company.
Ola Electric had recalled over 1,400 units of its electric two-wheelers in April.
The company had reportedly said that apart from being compliant with the European standard ECE 136, its battery system already complies with and is tested for India’s AIS 156 standard.
The government is also working on revising the AIS-156 to align it with countries like Japan, Germany and the US.
According to the report, the CCPA has also referred the matter of Pure EV to the Director General (Investigation) of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to assess the product.
The CCPA move comes after the Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had in April this year urged the electric two-wheeler manufacturers to be “cautious” while installing battery cells in vehicles as incidents of battery explosions in e-scooters were reported in different parts of the country.
He said any failure to address the problem would derail the government’s push for faster penetration of clean fuel vehicles, underlining the issue of quality control at manufacturers’ end.
Gadkari said the government is waiting for investigation reports and would soon come up with standardised rules and a mechanism to have robust testing protocol.
“I understand the industry is in the nascent stage and there are serious problems. We don’t want to create more complications and problems for the industry. But safety is the highest priority for the government and there can be no compromise with human lives,” he said.
The minister had also urged manufacturers to recall faulty batches of vehicles, test them and address the issue.