Government orders Electric Vehicle makers to stop new launches

Amid multiple fire incidents involving electric scooters, the Government of India has ordered electric two-wheeler manufacturers not to launch new vehicles till these fire incidents are investigated. This was told at a meeting called by the roads, transport, and highways ministry on Monday to discuss the increase in incidents of fire in electric two-wheelers. An official told, "EV makers have also been verbally dissuaded from launching new vehicles until clarity about the cause of fires and steps required to stop them have been firmed up.” The electric two-wheeler manufacturers have also been directed to voluntarily recall the entire batch of vehicles if one from that batch was involved in a fire incident.

Regarding this, the official commented, "Most have already begun this process.” Earlier, last week, Nitin Gadkari, Union Highways and Road Transport Minister also asked electric vehicle makers to voluntarily recall faulty electric two-wheelers after multiple EV fire accidents in which some lives were also lost. A week after Gadkari's call, EV companies Ola, Okinawa, and Pure EV reportedly recalled nearly 7,000 e-two-wheelers. On Monday, at the meet, it was again asked by the Government to recall the faulty batches.