Ola announced a recaling:1441 Ola S1 Pro electric scooters were recalled as a pre-emptive measure.

Ola announced a recaling:1441 Ola S1 Pro electric scooters were recalled as a pre-emptive measure.

The Mobility unicorn company and e-scooter manufacturer Ola have planned to recall nearly 1,441 two-wheelers manufactured by them after the Central government warned them of pre-emptive actions taken against companies failing to keep up with safety measures.

The high-profile Electric scooter maker which has faced several issues with its two-wheelers recently launched under two major variations, Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro. In March, their brand new Ola S1 Pro electric scooter caught fire in Pune (Maharashtra). Following this, the government had ordered a probe into the incident of the Ola Electric scooter catching fire in March. However, several such incidences have been reported in recent times, which included the electric scooters from Pure EV and Okinawa.

Ola added that the company’s service engineers would inspect the recalled scooters and go through “thorough diagnostics” across all battery systems, thermal systems, and safety systems. Currently, Ola’s battery pack claims to comply with AIS 156 of their standard level of rating, which is considered the latest standard for India and compliant with the European measures of ECE 136.

Apart from Ola, Okinawa Auto tech and Pure EV have recalled their 3,000 and 2,000 units of electric two-wheelers, respectively. Last week, the recalls were carried out after road transportation, and highway minister Nitin Gadkari constituted a group of committees that were done to investigate EV explosion incidents.

Ola Electric has stated that it is a pre-emptive measure which is part of a detailed diagnostics and health check. The Bangalore based mobility company has noted that the occurrence in Pune was a case. It has stated that the safety credentials of their battery pack comply with AIS 156, which is the nation’s most recent battery legislation. Ola added that it complies with the European standard ECE 136.

The company, in its formal statement about the recalling, asserted, “The investigation into the March 26 motor fire incident in Pune is ongoing and the preliminary assessment exposed that the thermal incident was an isolated one,” it added that “As a pre-emptive measure that will be conducting a detailed health check and diagnostics of the scooters in that specific batch and it is issuing a voluntary recall of 1,441 vehicles.”

As of recent, a ton of the electric scooters in the country have been involved in different incidents of burning to the ground, which has raised many questions in all the EV buyers and manufacturers. Even the government of India has ordered a probe into the incidents and has asked the manufacturers to take extreme precautions in the production of all the vehicles.

The Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is taking cognisance of these repeated incidents of electric two-wheelers catching fire. The government would announce ‘quality-centric’ guidelines for manufacturers of (EVs)electric vehicles while warning them of heavy penalties in case of negligence.

Lately, the minister asked the EV automakers of the country to recall their automobiles voluntarily and recommended harsh penalties for those that don’t comply. In addition, he said that a group had been formed to look for kind of similar events.

Talking about the Ola S1 Pro that caught fire in Pune, the company said that it was a one-off case, and it’s confident that the scooter is complying with all the safety norms. It reiterated that the scooter’s battery pack is compliant with AIS 156 and ECE 136.

As a pre-emptive standard that will be conducting a detailed diagnostics and health check of the scooters in that specific batch and so it is issuing an independent recall of 1,441 vehicles.”

Recently, Pure EV, a Hyderabad-based electric scooter start-up, issued a recall of 2,000 units of its ETRANCE+ and EPLUTO 7G e-scooters to check the number of issues with chargers and batteries. The scooter from the start-up caught fire last week and exploded, which led to a loss of life and injuries to two people.

Last year, in September, two scooters from Pure EV faced a similar fire situation. Even Okinawa, which is one of the leading players in the low-cost electric scooter market, has introduced a recall of 3,215 units of its electric scooters due to multiple fire incidents in many parts of the country. So far this year, at least half a dozen incidents of EV catching fire have been reported in India.

 He stated, “Several of the mishappenings that involve the Electric Two Wheelers have come to light in the past two months. It is bad that there are people who have lost their lives and several have been injured in these incidents,”. In a series of tweets, the minister said, “We have constituted an Expert Committee to know into these incidents and make stable recommendations on remedial steps.

Meanwhile, companies may take advance action to Recall all defective batches of vehicles immediately. Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi Ji, our government is committed to ensuring each commuter’s safety.”

In the most recent situation of EV scooter fire, a third electric scooter from Pure EV caught fire. The incident happened in Telangana’s Nizamabad district, and unfortunately, the life of an 80-year older man was stated in the accident. Talking further, four more members of the family got severe burn injuries. The Pure EV comes with a detachable battery that easily comes out of the scooter to charge. The police stated that the battery was being charged when it caught fire. The deceased was called B Ramaswamy. His son is B Prakash, a tailor, and he has been using a Pure EV electric scooter for the last year.

The sub-inspector who investigated the incident said that Prakash took the battery out from the scooter and placed it on charging at 12:30 AM. Ramaswamy, Prakash’s mother, Kamalamma and son, Kalyan, slept in the living room when the battery exploded at nearly 4 AM. He added that Prakash and his wife Krishnaveni suffered minor injuries while fighting the flames.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma