Fire sparks trust deficit among e-scooter owners, potential buyers

While financiers are citing a massive dip in bookings and enquiries, dealers cite at least a 10% dip in customers

With regular reports of electric two-wheelers bursting into flames and would-be customers postponing or cancelling their decision to buy an electric vehicle (EV), EV manufacturers have a problem of perception on their hands.

While financiers cite a massive dip in bookings and queries, dealers say that there has been at least a 10 per cent decline in bookings, as consumers are now on a wait-and-watch mode. On Saturday, Okinawa Autotech announced the recall of 3,215 electric scooters to fix issues related to their batteries.

Okinawa Autotech, Ola Electric, EV Pure, and Jitendra EV are among the manufacturers whose two-wheelers caught fire in recent weeks.

“Almost all the players, including Okinawa Autotech, Ola S1 Pro and EV Pure are seeing a decline in bookings and even queries after the fire incidents started,” said a senior official from a finance company.

Meanwhile, the images of scooters bursting into flames doing the rounds on social media have sent chills even among the owners of e-scooters.

“It’s indeed scary. I can only say I am lucky as I haven’t faced any serious issue barring the service quality,” said Avinash Kumar, a Greater Noida-based owner of the Okinawa iPraise model. Kumar has clocked 35,000 kilometres on his two-year-old model.

On their part, dealers and manufacturers claim that the incidents haven’t eroded consumer confidence.

“So far, we haven’t seen any impact on bookings or inquiries and it remains as strong as ever,” said a four-year-old Navi Mumbai-based dealer of Okinawa Autotech that sells about 60 to 70 units of the scooter every month. The dealership, he added, is doing everything possible to educate customers on every aspect of the scooter, he said.

In a first for an e-scooter maker, on Saturday, Okinawa Autotech announced a voluntary recall of 3,215 of its scooters to fix any issue related to batteries. The recall comes amid at least three fire incidents involving Okinawa scooters.

In the latest incident, 20 electric scooters of Jitendra EV caught fire on April 9 in Nashik, Maharashtra. One of the first incidents took place in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, on March 25 when 49-year-old Durai Verma and his daughter Mohana Preethi died after their electric scooter caught fire.

An industry source said a major EV player has stopped selling vehicles to dealers this month, claiming it was facing some subsidy-related issue.

However, Vinkesh Gulati, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, denies that there has been a slump in demand for EVs. “There is no major decline in terms of queries and bookings as the demand and supply mismatch is huge. There is no issue with interest as people are only on a waiting mode. This is only temporary.”

But he added that companies should provide an explanation for the incidents so that dealers can address anxious customers’ concerns.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has said the government is in the process of taking corrective action regarding the incidents. The ministry has asked the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and the Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) to probe the incidents and a report is likely to be submitted soon.

According to industry data, 49,591 units of electric two-wheeler were sold in March 2022 — almost a fourfold increase compared to March 2021. The top 10 players accounted for 94 per cent of total sales, with Hero Electric, Ola Electric, Okinawa, Ampere, TVS, Ather Energy, and PURE EV taking the top spots.