Ola S1 Electric Fire: Are Electric Scooters Unsafe?

There have been previous fire incidents and it leads to questions regarding the safety aspect of these scooters.

Ola S1 Electric Scooter

New Delhi: This is not the first time that an electric scooter has caught fire since there have been earlier incidents also with scooters catching fire, however, this seems to be the deadliest, and answers from Ola have yet to come.

In a widely circulated video, the Ola electric was parked in Pune and smoke could be first seen coming out of it while it suddenly burst into huge flames. This is not a small fire and it was lucky that the scooter was parked and the owner is safe.

However, this leads to a bigger question: are you playing with your life by buying an electric scooter, and are they safe? Electric mobility has been talked about and how they are the future but with fewer components, the main area of concern is now the battery of the car/scooter.

The safety of the rider here is at risk with such a huge fire and the battery has to work with our heat/climate. There have been previous fire incidents too and it leads to questions regarding the battery of these scooters.

The fire with the Ola scooter could be a short circuit or lithium-ion battery overheating. Cases like these could be related to wrong charger, overcharging but since the scooter was not charged it could be due to overheating and lack of cooling measures.

Ola is investigating the matter and we would be getting to know the exact reason soon however the safety of the rider becomes an important issue. The battery needs to be insulated well and also how well it is cooled.

Batteries in electric cars or scooters or devices can catch fire if not properly made or due to inadequate cooling. Worryingly, the fire from a lithium-ion battery is near impossible to put out. The cells burn and burst into flames with smoke first coming out.

So how to solve this? We need to see the root cause of all that and that is the battery along with the cells. With a lot of electric two-wheelers coming in, the lithium-ion cells are imported and a stricter regulation/mechanism needs to be put in to avoid any such incidents in the future.

From the manufacturers part, a product must be tested thoroughly for our varied conditions and things like these should never happen.

With so many new electric two-wheeler makers coming in, stricter rules or a mechanism for EV safety should be put in place.

The real reason for the Ola scooter fire should be revealed in a few days after investigation by the company but it does raise a doubt in the buyers' minds.

Electric scooters are cheaper to run and hence are becoming popular with lots of new entrants, however, the safety aspect is now in question.