Any time the Tesla Model S is involved in anything—be it a five-star government crash test or being the number-one-selling car in Norway—it makes headlines. And now, there’s one on fire. Fire, we tell you!
On Tuesday, a Model S driver on a state highway outside Seattle crashed into a “metallic object” and then left the electric car before the front end started burning, according to Tesla and Washington State Police. Firefighters put it out, the driver was okay and Tesla again touted the solid construction of the car’s frame for containing the flames. As Lamborghini and Ferrari owners know all too well, cars can spontaneously combust. Normal, gas-powered cars also catch fire in accidents quite often, so it shouldn’t be unusual.
Until we hear the final word from authorities, we’re hesitant to blame it all on Tesla’s lithium-ion batteries. It’s tempting, seeing as Boeing had to ground its 787 Dreamliner planes for months due to lithium-ion batteries overheating, and because other high-profile fires affected the Chevrolet Volt (post-mortem after a government crash test) and a whole fleet of charred Fisker Karmas during Superstorm Sandy (which Fisker later confirmed was because of its 12-volt battery). Lithium-ion batteries are extremely volatile to water and don’t tolerate spikes in temperature particularly well. According to the Washington State Police, it took firefighters “several attempts” to put the Tesla fire out as it kept “reigniting”—which sounds like it could be a battery fire—but again, we’ll leave that for investigators to decide.
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