Hyderabad: Strangely, even after repeated cases of electric vehicles going up in flames, the state fire department has no system to inspect, regulate and govern the functioning of stations that recharge batteries for such vehicles.
“We have no control when it comes to the safety and qualities of batteries used in such vehicles. There are no fire safety officials to look into this and all we can do is try and put out the fire when a distress call comes,” officials said.
In the latest such case, an electric bus of the TSRTC went up in flames while it was on charging mode at the Cantonment Depot near Jubilee Bus Station on Tuesday afternoon. A short circuit might have led to the mishap, fire officials suspect.
On February 2, fire broke out at a house in Quthbullapur. There was short circuit in a battery-operated scooter when it was kept for charging. Fortunately, nobody was injured. Last September, a video showing an electric scooter on fire in Hyderabad went viral on social media. It showed the vehicle throwing ashes and dense smoke in the air from beneath the seat with intermittent bursts of fire.
Experts said this could have been due to inexperience in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries and installation of recharge stations with little to no expertise at play.
Vinod Kanumula, chief functionary of Indian Road Safety Federation, said metri and gas stations installing such charging units should consider the voltage used, the output power supply etc. “Even big companies pan-India are engaging their R&D section to work on better batteries. Such incidents, due to the casual approach of the fire and transport departments, is a matter of concern to the general public and desisting them from a switch-over from fuel to electric vehicles.
The fire department should make sure such incidents do not happen by introducing proper systems,” he said.
The fire officials, meanwhile, were clueless about the electric two-wheeler catching fire on February 2. “This technology and concept of electric vehicles is new. It will take time for us to introduce norms. Suitable instructions must come from the top. For now, we can only engage in damage control,” said a fire officer.
