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On Monday night, while being charged, several electric vehicles parked inside an e-bike showroom in Pune, Maharashtra, caught fire. Seven electric bikes in all were destroyed in the fire, according to reports on the incident. Remarkably, no casualties were reported during the incident. The fire may have been started by overcharging the EVs, according to the emergency response team’s preliminary examination.
EV Fire Pune
(SOURCE: mysmartprice)
The fire incident happened at an e-bike showroom in Market Yard, Pune. On Monday, at about 8 o’clock, reports of a fire that had begun in the shop resulted in a call to the fire department. According to some unconfirmed accounts, the fire started in a Komaki India dealership that featured electric scooters and bikes.
Komaki
According to the hints given thus far, there were a handful of electric bikes stored in the showroom while they were charging. The bikes were designed to recharge their batteries after being plugged in overnight. One of these vehicles may have experienced a short circuit as a result of overcharging, which ultimately resulted in the hazardous fire outbreak. Please take note that a thorough investigation of the incident must be completed before it is possible to determine the precise cause of the fire.
Four fire tenders were used by the emergency team to put out the fire after they arrived. When the situation was finally under control, the showroom’s electric bike display had burned to the ground. Fortunately, no one was hurt or reported to have died as a result of the incident.

Can you overcharge your EV?

The short answer to this issue is No – you cannot overload your EV, even if you keep it plugged in all night. This is especially true if you equate the word “EV” with models like Tesla automobiles and other high-end electric vehicles. When the battery capacity of these electric vehicles reaches 100% while they are being charged, the battery management systems, or BMS, in these cars have the capability of stopping the current flow.

Having said that, it’s possible that the checks used in smaller, less expensive EVs are not infallible. Even after the battery of the EV has been fully charged, electrons will still continue to flow into the battery pack until the vehicle is plugged in. If this were the case, the battery would eventually overheat, get damaged, and possibly catch fire.

Speculatively, this could be the cause of the fire that started on Monday in Pune. However, there are other potential causes as well, and the precise one can only be foreseen after a thorough analysis of the incident. It would be unjust to attribute the fire up until that point to EV overcharging because an EV’s BMS practically guarantees that it won’t happen.

 

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