Gemopai’s EV Showroom Catches Fire In Telangana; Eight Dead

In yet another tragic incident of electric vehicle (EV) fire in the country, at least eight people were reported dead in Secunderabad after a charging unit at a showroom of electric scooter manufacturer Gemopai caught fire which spread to a hotel above it.

“Fire broke out in an electric scooter recharging unit on the ground floor, smoke from which overpowered the people staying on first and second floors. Remaining people jumped from the building and were rescued by locals. They were rushed to the hospital, fire tenders on the spot,” Hyderabad Commissioner CV Anand was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

At least 13 people were also injured following the incident.

Currently, investigations are on regarding the source and cause of the fire. “We don’t know if the fire started because of overcharging and then spread or whether it started elsewhere. That is still being established,” Chandana Deepti, deputy commissioner of Hyderabad, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

With this incident, the Greater Noida-based escooter company Gemopai has become the latest addition to the list of EV manufacturers to have seen fire incidents involving their vehicles this year. EVs of Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech, Jitendra EV, Pure EV, and Booms Motors were involved in such incidents earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Gemopai, in a statement on Twitter, said, “It’s a very unfortunate incident, & we’re deeply saddened by the loss of lives. Our teams, from Telangana & Delhi, have rushed to the incident site & are investigating the root cause of fire. We’re cooperating & working with the local authorities & awaiting a report on the same.”

Inc42 has reached out to the company for further details. The article will be updated on receiving any additional information from Gemopai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condoled the loss of lives in the incident and announced a compensation of INR 2 Lakh for a family member of all deceased persons. He also announced an ex gratia of INR 50,000 for each injured person.

On the other hand, government sources told Business Today TV that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will initiate a probe into the incident once the cause of the fire becomes clear.

The ministry had earlier warned of strict actions against the players whose vehicles were involved in the fire incidents. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari confirmed in July that the ministry had sent show cause notices to those players while it was also mulling penalising them.

Earlier, the government had asked the EV players to voluntarily recall vehicles involved in fire incidents, following which nearly 7,000 escooters were recalled. As per government data, 6,656 EVs have so far been recalled by three manufacturers — Ola Electric, Okinawa, and Pure EV.

Meanwhile, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and other investigating teams had found major flaws in the battery packs, battery management system (BMS), among other things, in the vehicles involved in the fire incidents.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways also issued a statement saying that additional safety requirements recommended in the existing battery safety standards would come into effect from October 1.