EVs catching fire because of 'mad rush' to get into business: Rajiv Bajaj

'Issue is the underlying process of the manufacturing,' says Bajaj Auto MD.

Electronic vehicles catching fire show poor manufacturing and India must avoid "mad whole rush" for untested products, said Rajiv Bajaj, the managing director of Bajaj Auto, on Friday, as he criticized "diluted norms".

Electric scooter fires have made news this year, and last month a report by the state-run Defence Research & Development Organisation defects in batteries as the cause. The defects may have crept in because electric two-wheeler companies intentionally used lower-grade materials to cut costs, said the report.

"The issue is not the fire itself. This (such incidents) happened in the vehicles with internal combustion engines as well. The issue is the underlying process of the manufacturing," said Bajaj at the inauguration of his company’s subsidiary Chetak Technology Ltd's dedicated electric vehicle manufacturing facility at Akurdi near Pune.

"What concerns me more is the environment that has promoted this mad whole rush. Why are people who have no business to be in the business of EVs trying to get into the business? This must be fixed. Maybe, if I can say so, the relevant authorities in the government have diluted norms for EVs." It (EVs flooding the market) may partly be because of the incentives as well," he was quoted by PTI as saying.

"Under the guise of low-speed vehicles you can bring any chunk of vehicles from anywhere and put it on the road. You will not have these scooters catching fire? What do you expect," he said according to the new agency.

The country aims to increase the share of electric scooters and motorcycles in total two-wheeler sales to 80 per cent by 2030 from 2 percent now. However, consumer sentiment has been roiled by the nine reported incidents since last year of electric two-wheelers catching fire.