Electric car catches fire on Bengaluru street, video goes viral

While the country is opting for more and more electric vehicles to reduce the pressur eon our environment, a horrific image of an electric car burning in the roads of Bengaluru has sent social media in a frenzy.

The incident occurred on Saturday, September 30, in Bengaluru's J P Nagar area. Sources have said that no casualty has been reported for the same

A fire accident case was registered at the Puttenahalli police station.

In the video uploaded on social media, one can see blazing flames engulf the car in question as black smoke emanated from it.

With EVs (Electric Vehicles) still evolving, manufacturers are in the process of learning and even the testing agencies are yet to figure out exactly what needs to be tested to ensure that there are no electric vehicle fires, said auto industry veteran and former Managing Director of M&M Pawan Goenka.

"If we go back 15-20 years back, we had seen such kind of things with internal combustion engine cars as well... because we were not aware at that time as what needs to be done," Goenka, now the Chairman, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), noted.

EVs are evolving and hence "a little bit of that (fire incidents) is bound to happen. I wouldn't say that manufacturers are taking it lightly. I would not like to believe it", he added.

While admitting that the fire incidents can give the whole EV industry a "bad name", Goenka asserted, "I don't think any manufacturer by design is being careless, it is just that we don't know enough right now."

It's a learning process and is maturing very fast. The government is also coming very strongly on checks that are required, he said, adding, "even the testing agencies do not know exactly what needs to be tested to ensure that there are no electric vehicle fires".

Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) President Sunjay Kapur said there is a need to look at the development process of EVs as many of the players have no prior experience in the sector.

With PTI inputs.