On April 19, a WM Motor EX5 in a charging station in Haikou City, Hainan Province suddenly caught fire after charging, and the video was uploaded online. This is already the third vehicle fire accident of WM Motor this year. There have been 11 spontaneous combustion accidents of WM Motor vehicles that have been publicly reported before.
Spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles has been repeatedly reported on the Internet, and after the spontaneous combustion, who is responsible has become an ambiguous issue. So far, there is no clear regulation on which party is responsible for the fire. But a new regulation released by India recently focused the responsibility on car companies.
Spontaneous combustion of trams will impose huge fines on car companies
Recently, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Roads, Transport and Highways, said that the Indian government plans to investigate electric vehicle companies, especially low-quality electric vehicle companies that pose a threat to the public.
He also said that if electric car companies do not remediate the incident in a timely manner, they will be subject to heavy fines and the need to recall defective models.
This new regulation in India was not released suddenly. There have been more than one incidents of fire caused by electric scooters in India, and spontaneous combustion of electric scooters has also occurred frequently.
Last week, an 80-year-old man in Telangana, India, was tragically killed when the battery of his PureEV scooter exploded.
On March 30 and April 19, two electric scooters exploded in the Indian cities of Chennai and Warangal, respectively.
Many electric vehicle manufacturers in the Indian market, such as Ola, Okinawa and Jitendra EV, have a record of product spontaneous combustion causing fires.
With the frequent occurrence of spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles in India recently, Okinawa and Ola Electric have taken actions to recall vehicles.
Indian electric scooter maker Okinawa said it “will be recalling 3,215 Praise Pro scooters to check and fix any battery-related issues.”
The Indian company Ola Electric later said that because of a scooter fire accident a few weeks ago, “we will conduct a detailed diagnosis and health inspection of this batch of pedals and have decided to voluntarily recall 1,444 electric pedals.”
Last month, India also launched an investigation into the cause of the electric vehicle fire, and the Indian government also set up a special committee of experts to formulate relevant remedies.
With the rapid development of electric vehicles in the world, many countries have formulated relevant policies to promote the popularity of electric vehicles, and the same is true in India.
As early as 2015, India launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Scheme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Scheme) to promote the development of electric vehicles.
In recent years, the sales figures of electric vehicles in the Indian market have also been increasing day by day.
Nitin Gadkari publicly stated last month that as of March 13, the total number of electric vehicles listed in India reached 1,095,746 units and 1,742 charging stations, while between April 2021 and March 13, 2022, electric vehicles The number of listings for two-wheeled vehicles increased by 423 percent, three-wheeled vehicles by 75 percent, four-wheeled vehicles by 238 percent, and buses by 1,250 percent.
Electric vehicles in India have entered a stage of rapid development. However, due to technical factors such as batteries, as well as a mix of brands, the safety of electric vehicles in India is worrying, and spontaneous combustion incidents have repeatedly erupted.
Therefore, the release of the new regulations in India is also intended to calm down the frantically growing electric vehicle market and turn barbaric growth into standardized development.
It is of great significance to hold car companies accountable
Due to the low penetration rate of electric vehicles, the spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles in India is also concentrated on two-wheeled vehicles and three-wheeled vehicles. However, it is not uncommon for four-wheeled electric vehicles in other countries to spontaneously ignite and catch fire.
In the domestic market, enter the name of a new energy vehicle company in Baidu’s search bar, and almost every major brand has news of fire or spontaneous combustion. Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, Weimar, Nezha, BYD, Euler, etc., without exception.
As for the issue of accountability after spontaneous combustion, there is no specific policy or regulation. Either the car company will take the initiative to compensate, or the insurance company will compensate in advance.
In terms of insurance, the Insurance Association of China has previously issued the “Insurance Association of China Exclusive Clauses for Commercial Insurance of New Energy Vehicles (2021 Draft)” and the “Insurance Association of China Model Clauses for Accidental Insurance for New Energy Vehicles Drivers and Passengers (2021 Edition)” Industry consultation draft)”, which standardizes the compensation for the spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles, including the losses caused by the spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles, software, and charging pile accidents, etc., are included in the scope of protection.
However, it is obviously not possible to rely solely on insurance compensation and the car company does not bear the slightest responsibility. Therefore, the accelerated formulation of relevant regulations has become an urgent issue in the field of electric vehicles.
Not only fire and spontaneous combustion, with the acceleration of the software and hardware development of electric vehicles, how to clarify the rights and responsibilities of electric vehicles equipped with automatic driving systems after an accident has increasingly become the focus.
Previously, in 2019, a Tesla owner in the United States was brought to court for causing death by running a red light with its Autopilot assisted driving function, and was charged with manslaughter, but the owner said he did not plead guilty.
Although the new regulation in India mentioned above only covers fire accidents caused by low-quality electric vehicles, its decision to hold car companies accountable is directional.
And whether India’s new regulations can achieve the purpose of regulating the market, we may be able to see in the frequency of its subsequent tram fire incidents.
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