The incident caused no injuries and was not caused by a thermal runaway.

A video of an Ather 450X electric scooter destroyed by fire surfaced online today, and the electric scooter startup quickly issued a statement explaining the cause.

According to the company’s statement, one of the connectors to the motor controller was wrongly torqued, causing sparking around the controller terminals. During this time, the on-board safety systems activated and cut power, but the wiring harness had already caught fire.

Despite this, Ather states that the dash, battery, and BMS were untouched, and the company emphasises that this was not a thermal runaway event as witnessed in other cases.

The Bengaluru-based start-up has also stated that it was a ‘rare human error,’ and that it has upgraded production methods and equipment, as well as implemented a two-step verification process, to prevent such occurrences in the future.

Despite this openness, a few questions persist. To begin with, did other scooters look like this before the improved production processes, equipment, and two-step verification? Will there be a recall, more importantly? We have contacted the corporation about these concerns and will update this story as additional information becomes available.

Ather Energy has been one of the more transparent start-ups in the e-scooter sector, and to the company’s credit, our long-term 450X e-scooter has functioned flawlessly for nearly a year. The Ather 450 Plus and 450X are among the first electric scooters conceived, developed, and manufactured entirely in India.

Know more about Ather Electric scooter here