A team from electric car maker Tesla is looking into a fire that destroyed a Model S sedan in China after the incident was captured by a security camera and then widely shared on Chinese social media.
The short video shows a cloud of light-colored vapor emanating from under the car and then enveloping the Model S before it catches fire and is quickly surrounded by flames. The car was parked in a parking garage at the time and no injuries have been reported. Two cars parked next to the Model S were reportedly also destroyed. A time stamp on the video indicates the video was recorded at 8:15 p.m. on August 21st, but Forbes has not confirmed if the time data on the camera is accurate.
No cause for the fire has been determined as of yet and Tesla told CNN they are working with Chinese authorities at the scene. Weibo users claimed the incident took place in Shanghai, according to Reuters. Weibo is a Chinese social media channel similar to Twitter.
Tesla vehicles have caught fire in the past, but typically only after a crash when the car's battery pack has been damaged. Spontaneous combustion of an intact battery pack would be highly unusual, but not impossible. Tesla has claimed in the past that an electric car is ten times less likely to catch fire than a vehicle powered by gasoline.
In 2014, following two incidents where battery packs were damaged and caught fire, Tesla began installing titanium underbody protection to Model S sedans and retrofitting units that had already been produced. Tesla claimed at the time that battery fires were extraordinarily rare but that the company wanted Tesla owners to have "peace of mind" about the cars. Tesla also said it uses a sheet of aluminum a quarter inch thick to encase and protect the large battery pack on the Model S. The grill design on the Model S in the video indicates it is an older model. Twitter user Jay in Shanghai, who also claims to be a Tesla owner, posted the video on Twitter. He said the car is a "first generation" Tesla Model S.
The timing of the Tesla car fire is crucial. Tesla's electric cars are very popular in China and represent 20% of the company's sales, according to Reuters. However, electric cars overall are quickly gaining popularity in China and competition between Tesla and domestic producers such as BYD and Nio is fierce. Tesla is also building a production facility in Shanghai in order to produce cars domestically as a trade and tariff war continues between the U.S. and China. Tesla hopes to have the plant up and running by next year. Cars made at the facility and sold in China would not be subject to tariffs and Tesla says it hopes to eventually produce half a million cars there annually.
While batteries don't typically burn with the explosiveness of gasoline, they can still catch fire, especially if a battery pack is ruptured. The chemicals inside an electric car battery are not prone to combustion, but if a battery pack is damaged or defective and a short circuit inside the battery is created, the amount of energy on hand can quickly ignite the materials inside the battery, causing a fire.
Battery fires have been a concern with other products in the past. Korean electronics giant Samsung had a massive public relations disaster on their hands in 2016 when a number of their popular Note 7 smartphone spontaneously caught fire due to defective batteries. The phone was banned by airlines worldwide and all the handsets were recalled.
Also in 2016, numerous "hoverboards," a popular self-balancing mobility device, also caught fire due to battery problems and were also banned by numerous airlines.
Forbes will continue to monitor and update this story.
