Ola recalls 1,441 e-scooters in the wake of repeated fire incidents

Ola Electric announced on Sunday that the company is recalling 1,441 units of its electric two-wheelers in the wake of incidents of e-bikes catching fire. These scooters will be inspected by engineers and will go through diagnostics across all systems.

In a statement, Ola said it is investigating a fire incident that happened in Pune on March 26. According to Ola’s preliminary assessment, it was found that the incident was an isolated one.

“As a pre-emptive measure, we will be conducting a detailed diagnostic and health check of the scooters in that specific batch and therefore are issuing a voluntary recall of 1,441 vehicles,” Ola Electric said in its statement.

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“These scooters will be inspected by our service engineers and will go through diagnostics across all battery systems, thermal systems as well as safety systems,” the company said.

Ola Electric said its battery systems already comply with and is tested for AIS 156, the latest proposed standard for India, in addition to being compliant with the European standard ECE 136.

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Recently, there have been widespread incidents of electric two-wheelers catching fire in various parts of the country, especially in Tamil Nadu, forcing manufacturers to recall their vehicles.

An electric bike emitted smoke in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruppur on April 11. That was the fourth such incident of e-bikes catching fire or emitting smoke in three weeks in the state since a father-daughter duo died after an electric bike exploded while charging.

The incidents also prompted Centre to form a panel to examine and warn companies of penalties if they were found to be negligent.