Beti Tirupati Reddy, a farmer from Jagtial district of Telangana, was livid after his month-old TVS iQube electric scooter exploded, and burned to a crisp.
Mr. Reddy has now shared live footage of the scooter burning, claiming that the exploding iQube caused a lot of collateral damage. But before we get there, here are some videos that show a burning TVS iQube, and the aftermath of the fire.
The first video with its shaky footage shows commotion. A woman can be heard screaming, a man trying to console her even the big blaze erupts from the parking/charging spot of the TVS iQube. People are also trying to extinguish the blaze with water to which a man’s voice asks them not to since this is an electrical fire.
The second video has Mr. Beti Tirupati Reddy, the owner of the TVS iQube that exploded in a fiery mess, talking about the incident. In the video, Mr. Reddy indicates that the scooter was bought about a month ago for Rs. 1.22 lakh, and that it was put for ‘charging’ just 5 minutes before the said explosion. After putting the TVS iQube for charging, Mr. Reddy went away for some errands.
He adds that there were multiple flammable materials in close proximity to the parked TVS iQube, including corn cobs that he was to plant a day later, fertilizers for the corn crop, and also tyres for his tractor’s harvesters. The explosion and the fire caused these materials to also burn, leading to the blaze becoming much bigger.
The biggest loss for the farmer though came in form of the 1.91 lakh rupees that he claims to have stored in the TVS iQube’s under-seat storage compartment, which also turned to ashes in the blaze. Even his PAN card, which was in the boot, burned down. The farmer added that this was the money he had just collected from the rice mill after selling them his recent produce of 103 quintals (10,300 kilograms or 10.3 tons). So, it’s just not the TVS iQube that burned down but also the farmer’s toil of many months. Strangely, the farmer seems quite nonchalant when he’s saying this. Ordinarily, one would expect a more emotional response considering the severe loss.
Mr. Reddy then adds that the fire was first noticed by his brother, who lives next door, and farms in the fields around his house. Mr. Reddy’s brother rushed to the house from the field after spotting the blaze, and alerted neighbors, and also called Mr. Reddy, asking him to return home immediately. Mr. Reddy then thanks his stars that this fire happened at a time when his kids and other family members were not at home. The fire department soon arrived and controlled the blaze. However, there’s no footage of that. Strange, but our only guess can be that people were too busy putting out the fire.
The third video has Mr. Reddy’s elder brother – an eye witness to the incident – explaining what he saw. He says that there was a little bit of smoke followed by a big blast. He says that the main door of the house was closed at the time of explosion, and otherwise the disaster could have caused the entire house to burn down as the explosion would have reached living quarters of the house. He adds that the fire caused the main door to also get charred while other flammable materials (mainly crop seeds meant for sowing) kept in the vicinity could have also made the fire larger had it not been extinguished on time.
In the fourth video, a woman – Mr. Reddy’s wife – comes in and narrates her version of the incident. She says that the TVS iQube had about 30 % charge before it was plugged-in, and that it was a miracle that there was no loss to human life. She adds that she usually sits on a chair just outside the house, and that she was lucky not to be there at the time of explosion. She expresses relief that her kids were not at the place, and adds that her son usually playfully sits on the electric scooter whenever he’s hanging out in the house’s veranda.
The human cost of electric scooter fires can be massive. This is because electric scooters are parked in close proximity to living quarters of many houses, especially while charging, as they use charging points of the house. So, it’s incumbent upon manufacturers to make sure that electric scooters are made fire proof, and also ensure that charging mechanism is also made fire-proof. Electric surges can also cause scooters to go up in flames while being charged.
This isn’t the first time that a TVS iQube has gone up in flames. The latest incident is the third recorded instance of a iQube fire in the last one year. Just3 scooters in nearly 2 lakh scooters that the brand has sold.
Two wheeler giant TVS Motors is one of India’s leading electric scooter makers, and currently has a single product on sale – the hot selling iQube. While the likes of Ola Electric and Ather use advanced mid-mounted electric motors, the iQube uses older technology in the form of hub mounted motors. This hasn’t prevented the iQube from becoming a big hit though as customers seem simply love the scooter.
In fact, the TVS iQube is one of India’s top selling electric scooters, and holds about 19 % of market share. For perspective, TVS Motors has sold 1.87 lakh units of the iQube electric scooter this year, and we still have a month to go. Recently, TVS Motors launched the high-range version of the popular scooter called the iQube ST, which promises a real world range of 140 Kilometers.
All said and done, such fires – even the smallest ones – will cast doubts on buyers’ minds, and could even slow down the adoption of electric two wheelers. We hope that TVS Motors swings into action, and investigates the cause of the latest fire. Getting to the root of this is important, for that’s the only way we’ll know what really happened.