Government admits it made a mistake by not taking steps to ensure the safety and quality of electric vehicles which resulted in several fire incidents in India

• The government has acknowledged that it has “erred” and has not done enough to ensure standards for the safety and quality of electric vehicles.
• This comes after there have been several instances of electric scooters catching fire.
• The government has called upon the industry to focus on product quality.

In an instance of too little too late, the minister of state for road transport, highways and aviation has acknowledged that the government has “erred” in not taking steps to ensure the safety and quality of lithium batteries.

The statement comes after several electric scooters have reportedly caught fire in the country over the past few months. There have been at least six deaths due to fires caused by electric vehicles in the country in the last six months.

According to an Economic Times report, General (retd) V K Singh, the minister of state for road transport, highways and aviation asked the industry to focus on the product quality and admitted that the government has not done enough to ensure adequate standards for safety and quality of electric vehicles in the country.

"We are cognizant of the fact that we have had issues with the electric batteries, especially two wheelers,” said Singh. "I think we have erred in not going into the details of what can be done, what type of regimen can come in so that safety management and quality issues can be taken together,” he added.

While the ministry is working on solving the issues, Singh called upon the industry to ensure that the problems are sorted. "There is a need for the industry, as well as all the others who are enforcing to ensure that the problems are sorted. From the ministry side, we are taking actions to further lay down guidelines so that safety measures are adequate, and we do not have that type of incidents we have had in two wheelers in the recent past.”

The major companies whose electric scooters have reportedly caught on fire include Ola, Okinawa, Pure EV and Jitendra EV. So far, Ola, Pure EV and Okinawa have recalled around 6,700 electric scooters after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari warned electric vehicle makers that the government would heavily penalize errant companies.

The Centre for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) had been asked to probe the circumstances that led to the incident and also suggest remedial measures, according to the road transport ministry.

The ministry had also asked CFEES to share the findings along with its suggestions on measures to prevent such incidents.

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