Electric Bus Fires: Bolloré Likely to Initiate a Recall
This page is translated from the original post "Incendies de bus électriques : Bolloré devrait procéder à un rappel" in French.
- 27/05/2022 17:48
The Bolloré group believes it has identified the origin of the problem.
A few weeks after the new fire on a Bluebus from RATP, Bolloré briefly revisited the issue during the shareholders’ general assembly. Cyrille Bolloré, the group’s CEO, stated that the cause had been “most likely” identified. A recall of the defective series is being seriously considered. The operation could cost the group 10 million euros.
An assembly defect
In principle, it is not an electrochemical defect that caused the buses to catch fire, but rather an assembly issue of an electronic component in a specific series. However, we will need to wait a little longer for a definitive explanation, as investigations are still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the RATP claims not to have been officially informed of the progress of the investigation undertaken by Bolloré. It is conducting its own investigations in parallel, with an independent expert. The Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau has also taken up the case.
The Bluebus 5SE still out of service
As things stand, the Paris public transport authority believes it does not have enough information to consider reintegrating the implicated buses into its fleet. Out of the 500 electric buses it owns, 149 are Bolloré Bluebus. The rest of the fleet consists of Alstom and Heuliez models.
The first fire involving a RATP Bluebus occurred on April 4, 2022, on Boulevard Saint-Germain. According to Laurent Probst, the CEO of Île-de-France Mobilités, the incident was caused by a battery defect.
On May 29, another Bluebus caught fire near the François Mitterrand Library. It was following this incident that the RATP decided to withdraw Bolloré buses from its fleet. In both cases, there were no casualties reported.
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