Container carrying 40 EVs catches fire; 20 e-scooters reduced to ashes

A container carrying 40 two-wheeler electric vehicles from Bangalore caught fire near the Pathardi area on Nashik’s Mumbai-Agra national highway. No casualties have been reported. These scooters belong to Jitendra Electric Vehicle Company.

According to the local police, the incident took place at around 4:15 pm on Saturday and personnel of CIDCO and Ambad MIDC fire stations brought the fire under control. Out of 40 scooters, 20 were reduced to ashes, as per an AajTak report.

Jitendra Electric Vehicle Company’s Kashay Bhanushali told the news site that the company has formed a team of technical experts and EV engineers to ascertain the cause of the accident. He added that the company will be able to comment more on this only after the report is filed and that they are keeping an eye on EV fire incidents.

He also mentioned that the company will take necessary steps after the report has been filed.

Separately, Bengaluru-based Ather Energy has called for using batteries suitable for Indian weather conditions. Ather Energy spokesperson told Business Today, “When designing batteries for Indian conditions, the battery not only needs to be compatible with extreme road conditions but also with grid changing. Typically, the range, reliability and performance of every EV vehicle is affected by climatic and road conditions.”

The spokesperson further added, “To manage these external conditions, a robust Battery Management System (BMS) has to be built to ensure safe, reliable performance. While India has adopted the stringent AIS 156 standard to ensure safety, a lot more needs to be done to ensure EVs become safer.”

(With inputs from AajTak)