[nairrk]

Video of Gwalior based Super Eco's X1 on fire surfaced on social media recently. The company blamed a Bangalore based third party battery vendor for the mishap.

The video is from Andheri in Mumbai and the scooter is X1 from little known Gwalior based firm Super Eco

https://youtu.be/3kWcta4qk9g

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[saisree]

Now this makes me shiver. What if is this happened while driving and in a busy junction?

Is this because of the battery getting heated up? What is the cooling mechanism we have for the one's in these scooters?

[CarNerd]

If the makers add some sparkling material to the batteries, these type of scooters will be very useful during Diwali as Flower Pots & Rockets. We can even have competition as to which one will burn the longest! All people can come on their scooters and gather at one place and show off their Firepower.

[SideView]

We definitely need more stringent measures adapted for battery testing for its safety and fail safes so as to avoid such issues. As it is not easy to control battery fires.


Imagine a parking lot with battery operated electric vehicles it would be hard to put it out due to domino effect.

[efuture]

Originally Posted by saisree

Is this because of the battery getting heated up? What is the cooling mechanism we have for the one's in these scooters?

Originally Posted by SideView

We definitely need more stringent measures adapted for battery testing for its safety and fail safes so as to avoid such issues. As it is not easy to control battery fires.

Unfortunately most 2W & 3W do not have any active cooling for the battery packs. Some premium scooters might have phase change material and nothing more other than that. Practically its not possible to keep refrigerant based cooing in 2W & 3W due to cost and battery size. If a thermal runaway is going to happen it will happen, there is no stopping. It can be delayed with some intumescent material or high temperature withstanding material as mandated in some countries. Even top of the line BMS with prognostic algorithm or liquid cooled pack cannot control these thermal runaway event until and unless its dielectric immersion cooling with capability to restrict the heat to spread to other cells - search Xing mobility in youtube. But it is very difficult and expensive to design, develop and master the dielectric immersion cooling system.

The solution for this is very simple. This can be easily controlled with good quality cells which are manufactured with quality raw material. I don't think these cheap scooters have LG, Samsung or panasonic lithium ion cells? Even these big manufacturers do mistakes sometime, but atleast accountability is there which is lagging in this case.

Only stricter homoloagation requirement can prevent these kind of incidents. These cheap packs are easily passing decade old AIS048 which doe not even cover as a whole system. I don't know if AIS 156 is mandatory now for small vehicles. 3/4 years from now these packs will be at its end of life and are more prone to fires like these.

[aravindb_0711]

PSA: Never attempt to extinguish an electrical fire with water.

You have a chance of being electrocuted. Use Carbon Dioxide or Powder type fire extinguishers for this purpose.

[VW2010]

Lithium-ion vs Lithium iron phosphate - It is safer to try Lithium Iron Phosphate if you are building your own EV. With lithium-ion, the whole setup needs more active monitoring and shutting down, and figuring as many ways as possible to avoid short-circuiting. With Lithium Iron Phosphate, even a short circuit does not create a fire mess like above.

Most probably this manufacturer is using battery cells packed by themselves, wrapped in cheap material, and packed inside the bike.

The second probable cause could be the after-market crap people install with no knowledge of electronics or electricity, which includes horns, LED lights, and more. Most electricians even skip the use of relays and end up creating a horror circuit that is waiting to short.

[fuzzydealhunter]

I watched the video in horror as the people threw water on the electrical fire. This video could have been so much worse