Introduction:
Ola Electric in its latest statement has said that it will be recalling 1,441 units of its electric two-wheelers. This decision from the company comes against the backdrop of various incidents of the vehicles catching fire.
After one of its S1 Pro scooters caught fire last month, the recall is part of its detailed diagnostics and health check of that particular batch. Ola also mentioned in the report that the investigation into the incident of 26 March, Pune is still ongoing and that preliminary reports suggest that it was an isolated incident.
Ola Justification for recalling:
Ola justified recalling the scooters calling it a preemptive measure. It stated, “As a pre-emptive measure we will be conducting a detailed diagnostic and health check of the scooters in that specific batch and therefore are issuing a voluntary recall of 1,441 vehicles.” It further stated, “These scooters will be inspected by our service engineers and will go through a thorough diagnostics across all battery systems, thermal systems as well as safety systems.” Ola Electric said its battery systems already comply with and is tested for AIS 156, the latest proposed standard for India, in addition to being compliant with the European standard ECE 136.
Government Panel:
Recently there have been various incidents of electric two-wheelers catching fire in multiple parts of the country and thereby forcing many manufacturers to recall their vehicles. Okinawa Autotech had recalled over 3,000 units, while Pure EV did a similar exercise for around 2,000 units. These incidents have prompted the government to form a panel to examine the situation as ola said and its details and have further warned companies of penalties if they were found to be negligent. Last Thursday Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari called for companies to voluntarily recall vehicles and proposed strict penalties for those that don’t do so.
Conclusion:
The recalling of the scooters could indicate a sign of a lack of the company’s confidence in its products. If negligence or fault is found on the part of the manufacturer, that indicated that the required due diligence was not done on the part of the manufacturer and it also opens them up to liability and fines from both the government and citizens. It remains to be seen what happens next and only time shall tell.
Published by: Ifa Zamzami
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