Will recall e-scooters if found faulty: Ola's Bhavesh Aggarwal

Breaking the silence over the current EV fires in India, Ola Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said on Saturday that the company hails the government’s step to penalise EV makers for faulty e-scooters and if the company finds there is a problem in any of its batches, it will recall those e-scooters immediately.

In an interaction with journalists at the state-of-the-art Ola FutureFactory at the Pochampalli town here, Aggarwal said that the company is making sure that each and every scooter goes through stringent tests on all fronts, especially the battery which is an all-crucial part, and the company will not hesitate in recalling batches if any scooter is found to be faulty.

“We are concerned about the recent EV fire incidents and fully support the government’s concerns. If we find any fault with our scooters, recalling that batch will be our top priority,” Aggarwal said.

An Ola electric scooter — S1 Pro — caught fire recently in Pune although the cause was reported to be short-circuited.

Also, a rider in Guwahati met with an accident recently, allegedly over a fault in the regenerative braking system in an Ola e-scooter, a charge Ola has denied saying that the rider was overspeeding.

Aggarwal said the company is further investigating this particular case and will share more details in days to come.

After the recent fires, some EV makers have already recalled the faulty batches of their electric two-wheelers, as the government raised alarm, threatening the OEMs to penalise them if such cases keep repeating and hurt India’s global manufacturing image.