Ather Energy Calls Battery Explosion In Its EV A Rare Structural Breach

Ather Energy has come up with a statement regarding the fire incident that broke out in an electric scooter at one of its centres in Chennai, Tamil Nadu recently where some property and e-scooters got affected. Ather Energy has stated that a ‘rare’ structural breach is ‘extremely rare’ phenomenon. The electric scooter maker said that the said structural breach allowed water to find its way into the battery pack of the scooter. This triggered a thermal runaway event resulting in smoke and fire.

Ather Energy has informed by way of an official statement that the e-scooter which caught fire was brought to its Nungambakkam facility for service. The e-scooter was then applied with a high-pressure wash to remove dust and mud. This had accumulated on the EV with the passage of time.

The Ather Energy team thereon discovered a crack on the top casing of the battery pack. Ather says that it happened due to the fire accident. The company stated, “A structural breach allowed water to find its way into the battery pack of the scooter, which triggered a thermal runaway event.”

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It also held that this kind of fire incident never took place with e-scooters of the company or any other vehicle of the automaker. It said, “The crack in the casing allowed water into the battery pack – which is both IP67-rated as well as AIS 156-compliant – that made its way to the 224 cells in the pack.” The company called this scenario as impossible to solve with regards to saving the battery pack in the e-scooter.

Ather Energy also held that this particular e-scooter was made with some ‘non-standard parts’ in place of the stock screws which surrounds the battery pack. The pre-checks for accident cases will now be increased by Ather to avoid fire incidents in future.

Battery explosions from many parts of the country were reported in electric two wheelers which prompted the Central Government to order an inquiry.

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Hero Electric, Ola Electric, Pure EV, Jitendra EV Tech, and Okinawa too were involved in previous EV fire incidents that made the headlines in India. Next week, the government panel probing the battery explosion and EV fire incidents will table its report.