The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which was previously tasked with investigating electric two-wheeler fires by the Union Department of Road Transport and Highways, is also believed to be leading the investigation into the Nexon EV fire.
The DRDO probe had found serious faults in the batteries. These flaws arose because electric two-wheeler manufacturers like Okinawa Autotech, Pure EV, Jitendra Electric Vehicles, Ola Electric, and Boom Motors may have used “substandard materials to cut costs.”
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An electric car fire was reported on Wednesday evening at Vasai West (near Panchvati hotel) in Mumbai.
“We will share a detailed response after our full investigation. We remain committed to the safety of our vehicles and their users,” the company said in a statement.
Tata Nexon EV is the best selling electric car in India and at least 2,500-3,000 cars are sold every month in the country.
The company has so far sold more than 30,000 electric vehicles, most of which are Nexon models.
“This is the first incident after more than 30,000 electric vehicles have traveled more than 100 million km across the country in nearly four years,” the company said.
As fires and explosions in electric two-wheelers continue unabated, the government is set to introduce EV battery standards (BIS standards) for EV two-wheelers which will be extended to four-wheelers at a later stage.
The BIS standards for EV batteries will look at “minimum cell size, connectors, specifications and quality, battery capacity”.
Earlier, NITI Aayog in a discussion paper also highlighted the need for BIS standards as a first step towards a national battery exchange policy.
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