With the emerging demand for electric two-wheelers in the country, many new EV brands are entering the market. However, some electric scooters by the big manufacturers are reliable, while others are becoming life-threatening to people. It’s probably thanks to low-quality materials used by the manufacturers and/or a lack of proper checks. It also needs to be mentioned here that these are sold at quite reasonable prices, and perhaps that’s why people are becoming attracted to them.
In the past few months and recently as well, we have come to know about some major electric scooter fire incidents. Just after the Ola S1 Pro mishap, a tragic incident comes into the news from Vellore, Tamil Nadu, where a father-daughter duo died due to an electric scooter explosion. As per the sources, the deceased were identified as 49-year-old M. Duraivarma, and his daughter Mohana Preeti, who was a student at Tiruvannamalai Government School.
M. Duraivarma, who was the owner of a photo studio, recently bought an e-scooter, and to charge it, he plugged its charger into a socket inside his house on Friday night. After charging the battery for a bit, the pair returned to view the scooter. Suddenly, the scooter’s battery detonated, and the fire quickly spread to two other vehicles. The duo standing close attempted to flee the flames by rushing into their home. Then they closed themselves in the bathroom.
However, the fire spread throughout the house, and both of them perished as a result of suffocation within a few minutes. As per the police report, the socket might be an outdated one with insufficient power capacity to charge an electric scooter, or the blast could be the reason for overcharging. The brand of the electric scooter has not been disclosed yet, and the police investigation is ongoing. Nevertheless, it is unquestionably necessary for manufacturing companies to focus on improving build quality as well as the BMS of EVs.
