This Article is From Mar 30, 2022

Pure EV Electric Scooter Catches Fire In Chennai, 4th Incident In 4 Days

On March 28, a video on social media showed Ola's S1 electric scooter catching fire in Pune. Before that, Okinawa two-wheeler too caught fire.

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Days after electric vehicles (EVs) of Ola and Okinawa Autotech catching fire, a similar incident has been reported from Tamil Nadu capital Chennai. This time, an electric scooter made by Hyderabad startup Pure EV burst into flames, raising concerns about the safety of EVs.

The now viral video of the incident, which took place near Mathur toll plaza in Manjampakkam - a residential area in north Chennai - shows plumes of smoke billowing from the scooter.

The 26-second video shows the red-coloured EV parked on the roadside. This is the fourth such incident in four days.

On March 28, a video on social media showed Ola's S1 electric scooter catching fire in Pune. The EV was parked on the roadside when the incident took place.

The over half-a-minute video showed the Ola S1 Pro in Midnight Blue colour releasing some smoke before bursting into flames and eventually being engulfed in fire.

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Ola Electric took cognizance of the incident and said in a statement that it was investigating the problem. The company also assured that it would take appropriate action once the investigation is over in the coming days.

The Ola S1 Pro was launched as the company's first electric scooter last year. It debuted alongside the regular Ola S1.

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The incident with Okinawa two-wheeler took place in Tamil Nadu's Vellore.

After the incident with Ola scooter, news agency Reuters carried a report which said that lithium-ion batteries, whether used in electric vehicles or electronic devices, can catch fire if they have been improperly manufactured or damaged, or if the software that operates the battery is not designed correctly.

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Ola company officials have said previously that the company imports its battery cells from South Korea but plans to start manufacturing them locally.

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