6,600 EVs recalled by 3 manufacturers in April after fire incidents: Govt

Three manufacturers of electric two-wheelers recalled over 6,600 vehicles in April this year, minister of state of heavy industries Krishan Pal Gurjar told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, responding to a question on the incidents of fire involving electric scooters and the action taken by the government.

The minister said incidents of fire in electric vehicles were reported in Tamil Nadu in March and Andhra Pradesh in April.

In all these cases, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has sent notices to the chief executives of the manufacturers concerned.

Gurjar said a total of 6,656 electric two-wheelers have been recalled by manufacturers. Okinawa recalled 3,215 units of vehicles on April 16, Pure EV recalled 2,000 units of vehicles on April 21 and Ola Electric recalled 1,441 units of vehicles on April 23, the minister said.

The minister, asked about the impact of the fire incidents on the sale of electric vehicles.

On April 21, union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said he has constituted an expert committee to examine EV manufacturing issues, especially those related to two-wheelers, and make recommendations to be added to the upcoming guidelines for EV manufacturers.

The expert committee was constituted with independent experts from DRDO, Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bengaluru and Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) Visakhapatnam.