Tata Nexon EV fire opens the lid on the question of the safety of EV passenger vehicles, even when a company like Tata Motors with all their R&D teams, latest technologies in their battrey packs, BMS and other software have contributed to increasing adoption of EVs in the country
While the two incidents may cant be correlated between the fire in Tata Nano an ICE car and the Tata Nexon EV that caught fire in a suburb in Mumbai on Wednesday, the common link and a sense of Deja-vu is the history of Tata Motors with fires. The current Tata Nexon fire certainly presents serious questions to its R&D team as it is the first EV passenger car to catch fire from the recently seen in EV two wheelers.
In a statement issued by Tata Motors the company has said this is first incident and an “isolated one” after selling a record number of vehicles “A detailed investigation is currently being conducted to ascertain the facts and we will share a detailed response thereafter. We remain committed to the safety of our vehicles and their users.” a company spokesperson said
The spokesperson also stated that the customer on hearing some noises in the car called up the company helpline and he was told to leave the vehicle immediately after which the car went up in flames.
For Indias second largest passenger car maker that has sold more than 30,000 units of Nexon EV and crossed more than 1 lakh kilometers experts say the company will have to recreate the fire in a controlled environment and figure out what has really gone wrong.
Experts have also pointed out that overheating of the battery or short circuits leading to uncontrolled currents where the cells heat themselves up beyond 100°C are some of the reasons for fire in an electric vehicle. Some of the other reasons for EV fires include poor cell quality and faulty battery management system (BMS) when paired with sensing and software technologies.
The Tata Motors investigation into the incident will tell more about the real reason for the fire, but one thing is sure, this incident will have rattled the top management that will have to work overtime to get into the skin of the incident.
The Nexon EV, according to the company manual is powered by a 30.2kWh lithium-ion battery pack and electric motor that has an ARAI certified driving range of 300 + kms for a single charge from 20 to 100 in eight hours on slow charging and 0 to 80 per cent on fat charging basis a DC fast charger