E-bike catches fire near Arcot town in Ranipet

34-year-old man escapes unharmed as electric scooter catches fire near Arcot town on Chennai-Bengaluru Highway.

A 34-year-old man escaped unhurt after his electric scooter caught fire near the Government Higher Secondary School at Puttuthakku village near Arcot town in Ranipet on Chennai - Bengaluru Highway (NH 44) on Thursday.   The police said K. Rithik Kumar, a native of Ammoor village, a thickly populated farming neighbourhood that comes under Katpadi taluk, was on his way to meet his relatives in the village when he noticed smoke emanating from the bike and a fire broke out. The incident happened around 11.30 a.m. 

“Before we reached the spot, most of the scooter was gutted. Electrical short circuit might be the reason for the accident. This is the first incident near Arcot town in all these years,” S. Thirumurgan, Station Fire Officer (SFO), Ranipet town, told The Hindu.

On an alert, fire tenders and Arcot Town police reached the spot. However, the vehicle was gutted. Initial investigation revealed that Mr. Kumar brought the vehicle to the showroom in Katpadi a few months ago. The police said charging the vehicle for too long could have caused the fire.

The police said this was not the first time that electric scooters had caught fire. In February 2023, an electric scooter parked at the veranda of a house in Vaniyambadi town near Tirupattur caught fire. The vehicle was left for charging the previous night before the owner of the vehicle S. Ihsanuallh went to sleep. The fire gutted his bike and the meter box.

In March, 2022, a 49-year-old man and his daughter died of suffocation after his new e-bike went up in flames in front of his house on Balaraman Street at Chinna Allapuram near Old Town in Vellore.