If there’s one thing you definitely don’t want your car to do, it’s explode into flames for seemingly no reason, which is exactly what a Tesla in China appeared to do recently.
CCTV footage of the incident, which has been circulating since Monday, shows a white Tesla Model S sitting in an enclosed carpark. Smoke appears to pump out before the entire underside of the car burst into flames. No one was harmed in the incident.
You can see it in a video posted to Twitter by the user, @ShanghaiJayin, below.
Good or bad, negative or positive I will post anything about Tesla or EVs in China. This happened today in Shanghai, China ???????? 1st generation Tesla Model S caught Fire ???? underground car park.#Tesla #TeslaChina #ModelS #Fire #China #Shanghai #特斯拉 #中国 $TSLA pic.twitter.com/HOwMcvulV1
— Jay in Shanghai (@ShanghaiJayin) April 21, 2019
Tesla has since issued a statement on the event, stating it’s currently investigating.
“After learning about the incident in Shanghai, we dispatched a team to the scene last night as soon as possible,” the statement, which was posted to the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, says. “We are actively liaising with the relevant departments and cooperating with the verification of the situation.”
Tesla’s response via Weibo Official Account. I hope Tesla can response quicky to bring out the report. pic.twitter.com/2mbrnooqU2
— Jay in Shanghai (@ShanghaiJayin) April 22, 2019
The same user also posted a video of the aftermath, showing that the fire clearly damaged some nearby vehicles.
Aftermath hopefully we will hear from Tesla what truly happened. pic.twitter.com/DuFi0pW9dk
— Jay in Shanghai (@ShanghaiJayin) April 21, 2019
Unfortunately for Tesla, this isn’t the first time one of its cars has caught fire out of nowhere. In 2018, a Model S in the US self-combusted multiple times while in park mode. While the company said shortly after that such fires are a rare occurrence, the battery is designed so that if they do happen, they spread slowly, giving “occupants have plenty of time to get out of the car.”
Elon Musk is yet to comment on the event but did just unveil plans for its own autonomous vehicle ride-sharing service during the Tesla Autonomy Investment Day.
As Motherboard points out, there were at least 40 fire-related incidents involving “new-energy” vehicles reported in 2018. Along with standard battery electric vehicles, that also includes “hybrid plug-in and fuel-cell vehicles”.
Tesla’s Chinese competitor, NIO Inc, is also looking into fires its own vehicles are involved in, so it’s certainly not something confined to any one company. Hopefully, there’ll be some more answers on why it’s happening soon.