E-scooter fires rare but can happen in future: Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal

 Ola’s e-scooter fire was among a spate of similar recent incidents that triggered an uproar on social media and an investigation by the Indian government

There may be more fires in electric scooters in the future, but such incidents are very rare, Ola Electric’s Chief Executive Officer Bhavish Aggarwal said at a private company event, after safety concerns were heightened by a fire in one of its scooters in March. Ola’s e-scooter fire was among a spate of similar recent incidents that triggered an uproar on social media and an investigation by the Indian government.

The company has recalled more than 1,400 e-scooters and appointed external experts to investigate the cause. “Will there be occurrences in the future, there might be,” Aggarwal responded, when asked a question about the fires at a private event on Sunday. “But our commitment is that we will make sure we analyse every issue and if there are fixes to be done we will fix them,” he said, according to a recording from the event reviewed by Reuters. He described the fires as being “very rare and isolated” in a recording from the event, at which the company previewed a new operating system for its e-scooters.