Blog

The Minister Of Road Transport And Highways Nitin Gadkari has confirmed that the ministry has sent show cause notices to two-wheeler electric vehicle (EV) companies whose e-scooters were recently involved in fire incidents in the country. 

“The Ministry has issued a show-cause notice to the CEOs and MDs of the concerned two-wheeler electric scooter manufacturers, to explain the reasons as to why the relevant Sections of the Motor Vehicles Act should not be invoked against them,” Gadkari said while answering a question in the Lok Sabha on whether the government has levied any fines on EV manufacturers for the accidents caused due to fires. 

“Further processing will be done on receipt of their replies,” he added.

Earlier this month, reports said that the central government had sent show cause notices and asked EV manufacturers to explain why they should not be penalised for the escooter fires.

Several escooters from various manufacturers have caught fire in 2022 so far. The original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) associated with such incidents include Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech, Pure EV, Jitendra EV, and Boom Motors.

Consequently, these OEMs recalled over 7,000 escooters involved in fire incidents as a precautionary measure.

The government had also formed a panel to investigate the reasons behind the fire incidents. The panel said that issues with EV batteries and ‘basic safety systems’ in the escooters were responsible for the incidents.

Speaking about it, Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha that the ministry has constituted a committee of experts to suggest the formulation of safety standards for batteries and their components, Battery Management System (BMS) and related systems in EVs.

“Safety standards notified by this Ministry from time to time are required to be complied with by vehicle manufacturers,” he said while explaining the steps taken by the government to ensure extensive testing of EVs by the manufacturers under stringent conditions.

“Compliance to these Standards is verified through a testing process by the test agencies notified under Rule 126 of Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, and thereafter Type Approval Certificate is issued to only those vehicle prototypes/components which meet the specified standards,” he added.

Meanwhile, after the electric two-wheeler fires, recently a Tata Nexon electric car was also seen in flames.

As per the Ministry of Heavy Industries, 13.34 Lakh EVs are currently running on Indian roads. In May, Gadkari said that India will have 3 Cr EVs in the next two years.