Recent incidents of electric vehicles (EVs) catching fire will inevitably cause speed bumps in EV adoption, industry experts said.
“Currently, many new-age players are engaging in wrong practices by selling battery electric vehicles without following the proper protocols,” said Uday Narang, founder and chairman of Omega Seiki Mobility (OSM).
“This gives a bad name to players who did thorough research before launching their EVs, thereby creating fear in the market,” he added.
“I’m just concerned about one thing, that once fear sets in in consumers’ minds, no benefit will persuade them to buy electric vehicles,” Mr Narang said.
He said that before bringing an electric vehicle to market, his company followed “progressive testing” at every stage of engineering, design and manufacturing. He also warned against charging electric vehicles immediately after a trip.
“Let the battery cool down and then charge it. Secondly: Only use the battery intended for this purpose and the original charging cable. And finally, the most important thing is to keep an eye on the battery,” he added.
He said that as soon as anything suspicious was noticed, the vehicle should be stopped and taken to the gas station immediately.
according to dr Yogesh Kumar Sharma, Associate Professor, IIT, Roorkee, the main reason an EV battery catches fire is the “volatility of the electrolyte and its additional reactivity when charged”.
Akash Soni, co-founder and CEO of Indi Energy, a start-up developing batteries, said: “EV fires can also occur due to a lack of battery/EV quality control checks and non-compliance with safety protocols according to international standards.”
