A fresh video of a charred electric scooter in a garage has surfaced on social media adding to the debate on the need for more stringent regulations for batteries in electric vehicles.
The scooter this time is from Okinawa, one of India’s leading electric two wheeler companies. The first of the three videos shows CCTV footage of the scooter parked in a garage and being recharged in the night when a blast occurs. Thetwo subsequent videos are from the morning that show a completely charred vehicle.
When contacted Okinawa founder and managing director Jeetender Sharma said the company would reach out to the customer and investigate the incident to ascertain what went wrong.”We came across this case recently and are trying to reach out to the customer to figure out what went wrong and what could have been done to avoid such an incident,” Sharma said in a detailed response to ETAuto. “We believe that user awareness is critical in the case of electric vehicles, so that users do not suffer as a result of a lack of information or an incorrect code of conduct, and do not completely abandon the idea of switching to electric vehicles, which are indeed the environmental necessity of the hour.”
This is the third incident in the last 10 days of an electric scooter on fire in India. Last week, videos of two scooters from Pure EV on fire had emerged. Unlike in the case of Okinawa, the scooters were on the road.
Sharma stressed that the chances of an electric vehicle catching fire were less than in the case of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. Yet the company has come out with a detailed set of guidelines to prevent any mishap. These include using only the specified chargers for recharging, keeping the batteries at room temperature (Okinawa has swappable batteries) and not charging the batteries within an hour after use.
“Electric vehicles catch fire less often than gasoline-powered ones, but the duration and intensity of the fires due to the implementation of lithium-ion battery systems can make the fires in electric vehicles much harder to put out,” Sharma added. “We take the safety of our people – both employees and customers as our utmost priority. As a responsible organisation, we have designed appropriate strategies to make our customers informed and aware of the possible hazards that they could experience in case there is any negligence in taking proper care of the battery of their electric scooter.”
“We leverage several channels of communication – online and offline to effectively reach out to customers and provide 24*7 support with regards to their queries/concerns while using the product. We have a dedicated team of professionals who provide appropriate guidance to customers as well as dealers and assist them in every possible way.”
While these cases can be seen as exceptions, there has been a gradual increase in the number of fire incidents with EVs commensurate with the rise in sales across the globe. Last month General Motors expanded the recall exercise for its Bolt EVs by 73,000 vehicles to now include every Bolt ever manufactured. This was the third time in nine months that GM had recalled the car due to the risk of its high voltage battery catching fire. The reported number of the cars that have caught fire so far are seven but nonetheless, GM has now recalled over 100,000 cars at a cost of nearly $ 2 billion. Similarly South Korean auto giant Hyundai recalled 82,000 EVs earlier this year after 13 incidents of fire were reported in its compact crossover Kona electric. This includes 456 units of the car that it sold in India.
On the positive side battery technology is still evolving and many different types of chemistries are being tested. Chances of more efficient, stable and safer batteries breaking through are fairly high. Already, some companies have started to take note. Chinese EV firm DAO EV Tech for example announced on Tuesday that it would only use Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries instead of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) batteries in its products. LFP batteries have a significantly higher thermal runaway threshold of 270 degrees celsius against NMC’s 150 degrees. The company did refer to the instances of fire in the Pure EV scooters while making the decision public.
At a broader level, there may be a need for the government to step in and put in place additional regulations for batteries. There is precedent for this elsewhere. Faced with a rising number of fires in batteries, Singapore legislated the UL2272 fire safety standard to weed out inefficient technologies. The testing parameters under UL2272 include both electrical and mechanical components that take into account how resistant the batteries are against impact, extreme temperatures, water exposure and other factors. Any signs of short circuiting and imbalance charging that indicate a possibility of fire are deemed less than ideal and do not make the cut.
With electric vehicles on the verge of becoming mainstream, the time is ripe for the government to take a leaf out of global best practices to ensure only the safest vehicles hit the road.
- Do’s and Don’ts from Okinawa
- Only OEM specified Charger to be used for specific battery type. Do not interchange or use any non- genuine charger.
- Keep batteries at room temperature.
- Please do not charge the batteries within 1 hrs after use.
- If you find that the battery has become hot, or if there is odor, deformation, or any other abnormal phenomenon during usage, please stop further operations immediately isolate and store separately, and inform the concerned Service Engineer.
- If you find battery casing is damaged or Water intrusion has taken place, immediately isolate and store separately, and inform your dealer.
- When the battery is not used for a long time (more than one month), please remove it and charge the battery to a half-saturated state (after discharging, charge with the charger for 1.5 to 2 hours), and then leave it Store in a cool and dry room (the optimal temperature is 5 ℃～25 ℃), and charge it for 1.0 hour every three months.
- Do not leave the battery for a long time under the state of 5% power!
- The battery and charger should be stored in a clean, dry and ventilated place, avoid contact with corrosive substances, keep away from fire and heat sources (not less than 2 meters), keep away from flammable substances, and disconnect the charger from the battery.
- Make sure no water use in any kind to battery and avoid charging in humid conditions.
