EV registrations in June: Ola Electric slips to 4th spot amid fire concerns

Amid fears of EV fires, Ola Electric’s two-wheeler registrations saw a further dip of more than 36% in the month of June and the company has slipped to fourth position, according to the government’s Vahan dashboard as of Saturday (July 2).

The registrations of electric scooters increased 6.8% month-on-month to 42,233 units in June and so far this year, 2.4 lakh units have been sold, as per Vahan data.

Also read: Prices of EVs to match those of petrol vehicles in 2 years, says Gadkari

Ola Electric, which became the No. 1 company in April, saw 5,874 registrations in June. In May, it had 9,255 registrations and 12,703 in April.

“We calibrated our business priority for the month to focus on bettering our customer service and brought our TAT (turnaround time) to within 48 hours. Come July, we are confident that supply chain issues will start fading out and our strong order book will be fulfilled,” Ola Electric said in a statement.

In June, Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal stated that EV fires will continue to happen. He was responding after a Tata Nexon EV car had caught fire in Maharashtra.

Also read: Why electric scooters could catch fire, and how you can avoid that

“EV fires will happen. Happens in all global products too. EV fires are much less frequent than ICE fires,” he tweeted.

In case you missed it @hormazdsorabjee 🤔

EV fires will happen. Happens in all global products too. EV fires are much less frequent than ICE fires. https://t.co/gGowsWTKZV

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) June 23, 2022

Okinawa Autotech continued to maintain its position at the top with 6,980 registrations in June. However, the company too saw a dip from 9,305 in May.

At the second spot was Ampere Vehicles with 6,541 registrations in June, a marginal increase from 5,837 units in May.

Hero Electric had 6,503 registrations in June, with more than 100% increase. In May, it had 2,851 registrations. At fifth place was Ather Energy with 3,808 registrations in June, a slight increase from 3,338 registrations from the previous month.

Also read: An ordeal by fire for new electric vehicle makers and users

Several electric scooter fire mishaps have been reported in the country which resulted in companies including Ola recalling the bikes. Ola had recalled more than 1,400 e-bikes in April.

Taking a serious note of EV fires, the Union government, in April, constituted an expert committee to probe the accidents. It said if any company is found “negligent”, heavy fines will be imposed.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had called the EV fire mishaps “most unfortunate”.

Also read: EV fire: Govt to revise testing norms for batteries, battery management & cells

“We have constituted an Expert Committee to enquire into these incidents and make recommendations on remedial steps. Based on the reports, we will issue necessary orders on the defaulting companies. We will soon issue quality-centric guidelines for Electric Vehicles,” he said.