Following a social media video depicting a Tata Nexon EV in flames in a Mumbai suburb that went viral, the government has ordered an investigation into the incident. This comes on the heels of a notice sent to Ola earlier this week, giving them 15 days to explain their electric scooter fires.
According to a statement by Tata Motors seen by Reuters, the company says that it was an isolated incident, and is attempting to verify the facts of the video.
“A detailed investigation is currently being conducted to ascertain the facts of the recent isolated thermal incident that is doing the rounds on social media. We will share a detailed response after our complete investigation,” the statement said.
According to the company, it has sold 30,000 Nexon EV vehicles, and this is the first incident reported.
The government reportedly wants the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to investigate the Tata fire.
This investigation comes on the heels of a series of electric scooter fires in the first half of 2022, with Pure EV, Boom Motors, and Ola Electric all under pressure to provide answers.
An earlier Reuters report mentioned that faulty battery cells and modules may be causing the fires.
Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal has been antagonistic towards attempts to criticise and investigate the EV industry due to these incidents, and again lashed out as the Nexon fire video went viral.
In the tweet he called out Hormazd Sorabjee, an auto journalist, presumably to mock the coverage that has placed electric vehicle manufacturers under a negative spotlight. Earlier this year, he had also mocked another auto journalist as being part of the “petrol media”.
In his tweet, Aggarwal claimed that fires happen across all vehicles, including electric ones. However, he claimed, “EV fires are much less frequent than ICE [internal combustion engine] fires.”
