Electric scooty battery explosion in Andhra Pradesh kills elderly woman

62-year-old Venkata Lakshmamma perishes in Potladurthi village when her two-wheeler battery bursts into flames while charging, reigniting EV safety concerns across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Amaravati: A 62-year-old woman was killed on Friday when the battery of an electric two-wheeler she was charging exploded inside her home in Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Kadapa district.

The incident took place in Potladurthi village of Yerraguntla mandal, where the scooty was left on charge as the victim, identified as Venkata Lakshmamma, slept on a nearby sofa. The explosion caused immediate burn injuries, and Lakshmamma died on the spot.

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Following the blast, the vehicle caught fire and was completely gutted, with some household items also suffering partial damage. Local police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion.

Lakshmamma’s body was moved to the government hospital at Proddutur for autopsy.

Similar battery-explosion incidents have been reported across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in recent years. In 2022 alone, around eight fires involving e-bikes, homes, showrooms and even a hotel were linked to exploding batteries, killing ten people and injuring many others. Almost all occurred while the vehicles were charging, with overcharging suspected as the trigger.

The worst of these was in Hyderabad in September 2022, when a short circuit, allegedly caused by overcharging, set off a fire in an e-bike showroom in a building cellar, spreading to an upstairs hotel and claiming eight lives. In October 2022, 36 electric bikes were destroyed in a massive blaze at a Parvathipuram district showroom in Palakonda town.

In November 2024, a battery explosion in a Jagitial district home injured the owner of a three-month-old electric scooter. And in April 2022, Kotakonda Shiva Kumar (40) was killed and his wife and two children burned when a newly purchased scooty battery exploded in their Vijayawada residence an incident that followed, by one day, another fatal blast in Telangana’s Nizamabad district in which an 80-year-old man was killed and two others injured while charging an e-two-wheeler.