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This is the first instance of a fire reported from Ather scooters.
Ather Energy was one of the few indigenous brands which managed to evade controversy during the peak summer when many e-scooters faced battery-induced fire mishaps. Companies such as Ola Electric, Pure EV, Jitendra EV, and Okinawa Autotech all faced a lot of slack from their audience for lack of safety standards.
On Friday afternoon, Ather Energy's Chennai dealership encountered a fire mishap after an accident-affected scooter was brought into its services centre for repairs. The company quickly acknowledged the event and later clarified via a tweet. No one was injured during the incident albeit it is believed that some scooters might have been damaged due to the mishap.
The Ather e-scooter that came into the workshop for repairs was impacted in the battery pack area. Ather reported that during a deep wash, water seeped into the battery through an unidentified crack in the battery casing. The crack caused by the accident had compromised the weatherproofing of the battery pack. The water caused a rare case of cell exposure in which 224 cells were affected. This caused a short and a thermal runaway which started the fire.
Ather assured that such events were rare and have never occurred in the 150 million km of riding. The company also assured that no scooters in operation could lead to such a fiery mishap. Ather has also stepped up the pre-repair inspection protocol for accident cases to avoid similar incidents in the future.