The current hearth incidents, involving electrical scooters of a number of corporations, is not going to affect the expansion of the electrical car (EV) business, however compel producers to enhance their processes, Okinawa Autotech’s founder and managing director Jeetender Sharma, informed Fe. Two of Okinawa’s scooters had caught hearth in March and April and the corporate recalled 3,215 electrical scooters following the incidents.
“At the end of the day, it (electric scooter) is a mechanical product running on the road. There might be an error at any time. It can be manufacturer’s fault, rider’s fault or due to any other reason,” Sharma mentioned. “Do you think a couple of scooters can define our quality system? We have not made any changes in the model or its components, nor have we changed the supplier. But as a responsible brand, we voluntarily recalled our vehicles,” Sharma added.
Apart from Okinawa, electrical scooters of corporations like Ola, Pure EV, Jitendra New EV and Boom Motors had additionally caught hearth across the identical interval. Following it, the ministry of highway transport and highways had arrange a committee comprising consultants from Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) and Indian Institute of Science, which submitted its report back to the federal government earlier this week.
“We are the first EV company in India to have IATF (International Automotive Task Force) certification. We follow all the norms related to the products and batteries prescribed by it as well as the government,” Sharma mentioned.
Since launching its first product in India in 2017, Okinawa has offered greater than 150,000 models within the nation. At current, the corporate’s electrical scooter vary contains lithium-ion high-speed fashions like Okhi-90, IPraise+, Praisepro and Ridge+, and lithium-ion slow-speed fashions like R30, Lite and Dual.
Okinawa had launched Praisepro, the mannequin concerned in two separate hearth incidents, in 2018. The Praise household’s contribution has been near 100,000 models in Okinawa’s general volumes.
When requested if the fireplace incidents will affect the expansion of the EV business, Sharma mentioned: “I do not think so. The example of voluntary recalls, which we and other companies set, will give more confidence to the customers.”
“Such incidents (EV fire) will only compel the manufacturers to improve their processes even further so that they don’t get repeated,” Sharma added.
Other than Okinawa, Ola and Pure EV recalled 1,441 models and a couple of,000 models, respectively, after the incidents of fireside.
Okinawa had signed an settlement with Italian electrical two-wheeler maker Tacita earlier this month to kind a three way partnership (JV) for manufacturing electrical scooters and bikes for home and worldwide markets.
“As part of the JV, we will open an R&D centre in Europe where our engineers and their engineers will work together. The products developed under the JV will be manufactured in India by Okinawa,” Sharma mentioned, including that discussions relating to the JV began nearly two years again.
Okinawa at the moment has a few manufacturing services in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. The first facility has an annual put in manufacturing capability of 90,000 models, whereas it’s 300,000 models for the second facility, which started operations earlier this 12 months in February.
The firm had not too long ago launched Okhi-90 electrical scooter. It is now planning to change all its slow-speed fashions to high-speed. “High-speed models make up 90% of our total volumes even now. The switch to completely high-speed models will happen by Q3 CY22,” Sharma mentioned.
The firm will introduce the Okhi-100 electrical bike, one of many merchandise it’s engaged on as a part of the JV with Tacita, both in direction of the top of CY22 or the start of CY23.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”