Photo: Metro Fire of Sacramento/Twitter
After a Tesla battery spontaneously combusted on a California highway, two fire engines and thousands of gallons of water were required to extinguish the flames.
“The vehicle battery compartmentspontaneously caught firewhile it was traveling freeway speeds on EB Hwy 50,” SMFD shared in the news release. “The fire was extinguished with approx 6,000 gallons of water, as the battery cells continued to combust.”
In addition to the two fire engines, a water tender and a ladder truck were used to assist. “Crews used jacks to access the underside to extinguish and cool the battery,” the release explained, also featuring photos of the firefighters' efforts and the charred front end of the vehicle.
No injuries were reported, and a spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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Although this instance is not the first ofa Tesla spontaneously catching fire, CEOElon Muskhas previously stated that0.01% of Teslas have ignited on the road, far fewer than the auto industry’s total, according toBarron’s.
SMFD Captain Parker Wilbourn previously said that although Tesla fires are rare, they can they can be “very difficult to extinguish.”
“When one battery catches fire, it preheats the next battery, the next battery and the next battery. It causes a fire and it is a chain reaction from there,” he told Fox affiliate KTXL in August.
In 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declined to open an investigation in Tesla vehicle fires, which they called “rare events,” Reuters reported at the time.
source: people.com
