Okinawa Electric Scooter catches fire; Rider jumps to safety

While the electric two-wheelers are trying their best to identify and rectify the root cause of electric two-wheelers catching fire in the open, such incidents are not just not stopping to occur. Another incident of an Okinawa Praise Pro catching fire has been reported from Hosur in Tamil Nadu. It is the fourth incident of an Okinawa scooter catching fire since March, thus adding to the long spree of infamous and troublesome incidents related to electric two-wheelers’ safety.

This most recent incident of an Okinawa Praise Pro catching fire took place in April 2021 in Hosur, where it went up in flames while the scooter owner, Mr Sathish, managed to escape without any bruises or injuries. Like in the previously reported incidents, the Praise Pro burned to flames after emitting a heavy amount of white smoke from the area where the scooter’s battery is placed.

Also read: Ola Electric Scooter Purchase Window delayed again

The video of this Okinawa Praise Pro burning soon went viral on social media, which caught the attention of netizens and potential buyers of electric scooters, who are already concerned about the safety quotient of such vehicles. It is the fourth incident in the series involving an Okinawa scooter, as, before this, three similar accidents happened in the last few weeks.

Okinawa fire turned fatal earlier

One of these three prior incidents also claimed the lives of the scooter owner and his daughter due to asphyxiation caused by the white fumes of the flame. In this incident, the scooter was left to charge overnight, and the deceased father and daughter were sleeping in their home when the fire broke out.

Okinawa is yet to issue the final results of its investigation, but in its first interaction with media, the electric two-wheeler manufacturer has stated that such incidents are occurring due to the owners’ negligence while charging their scooters. As a part of its full inspection, Okinawa recalled 3,215 units of Praise Pro manufactured in a batch to fix any issue related to batteries with immediate effect.

Dealer blames owner for fire

The dealership from where the customer bought the scooter blamed the owner of the scooter for carelessness. The dealership alleged that the customer did not bring the scooter for servicing.

At the time of delivery, customers are informed about EV scooter usage, battery maintenance, and regular preventive services, and the same is also clearly stated in the company’s owner’s manual. We conduct vehicle health checkup camps and awareness campaigns at regular intervals to ensure the smooth running of the vehicle,

Okinawa also confirmed that this recall is a part of comprehensive power pack health check-up camps and will address any damage that occurred due to the battery packs of these scooters. The electric two-wheeler maker has also said that if any defect is found in these recalled scooters, it will be rectified free of cost.

This voluntary recall by Okinawa comes just at the right time when the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of Central Government has issued a warning of heavy penalties for the electric two-wheeler manufacturers for the undetected faults in their offerings. Due to this statement, electric two-wheelers like Okinawa, Ola Electric and Pure EV have recalled scooters of those batches which included the scooters which were involved in the incidents of fire.

Also read: Modified Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500 motorcycle from Eimor Customs look beautiful