Ather 450X Catches Fire, But It’s Not Due To A Faulty Battery

Here’s what the company says

On May 27, a fire broke out at one of Ather Energy’s dealerships in Chennai. Thankfully things were brought under control and there has been no harm to human life, and as per Ather, there was no other damage apart from the affected electric scooter. 

But before you ask, the fire did not begin due to a faulty battery. In fact, the scooter that caught fire had been involved in an accident and had a cracked battery pack. While it was water-washed before servicing, water had entered the cells of the battery pack, which then led to a short circuit.

Ather Energy has acknowledged the incident and has put out a detailed statement. It also promises to “Increase the number of pre-checks for accident cases to avoid similar situations in the future.” Interestingly, the battery casing in the affected e-scooter also seems to have had a few screws that were not from Ather’s official parts list, which, as per the company, may have increased the stress on the battery panel. Here’s the company’s full statement:

While Ather advices to use only official-spec components irrespective of whether the user gets it serviced by the company or not, the onus lies on the company to ensure all its dealerships use official components as information related to parts like screws are proprietary, and the customers will not be able to identify the genuine ones from others. 

We hope Ather comes up with a foolproof system to ensure all its scooters are serviced properly with the right parts. In a related development, Ather Energy received a Rs 989 crore investment from Hero MotoCorp and other investors, and you can read all about it here.

Image courtesy: Respective owners