No injuries were reported after a lithium-ion battery fire involving an electric bus under servicing at a Sin Ming industrial workshop in Singapore on March 25. — Screengrab from Facebook video

By Malay Mail

Thursday, 26 Mar 2026 4:12 PM MYT

SINGAPORE, March 26 — Authorities are investigating a lithium-ion battery fire involving an electric bus in Singapore, with attention turning to how high-voltage batteries are handled during maintenance.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it will probe the March 25 incident alongside bus manufacturer Yutong, operator Tower Transit Singapore and battery maker CATL, The Straits Times reported.

The fire broke out at around 12.50pm at a ground-floor workshop at 160 Sin Ming Drive, where the Yutong bus had been sent for servicing.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it extinguished the blaze using two water jets, adding that there were no reported injuries and the cause remains under investigation.

Crucially, the lithium-ion battery had already been removed from the vehicle when the fire occurred.

The bus itself was not damaged, according to a Tower Transit spokesman, who noted that servicing works are carried out by the manufacturer’s workshop as the vehicle remains under warranty.

Singapore currently operates 20 Yutong electric buses, with another 100 expected to be deployed by end-2026 as part of a broader push to decarbonise land transport. As of end-February, there were 830 electric buses among a total fleet of 18,371 public and private buses.

CATL, headquartered in Ningde, China, is the world’s largest EV battery supplier, accounting for 39.2 per cent of global market share as of 2025, with clients including BMW, Tesla and Toyota.