Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in China, Initial Investigation Reveals a Crash Damaged Underbody
21-January-2021

As per a report published on CNBC, a Tesla Model 3 has exploded in an underground residential parking garage in Shanghai recently. Citing Tesla's response to Chinese media, the report further suggests that no people were injured in the fire.

Initial investigation by US based EV maker indicates the accident was caused by an impact on the underbody of the Model 3. Tesla has been producing Model 3 in Shanghai plant for more than a year now, however it was not immediately clear whether the Model 3 affected was a locally made or imported version.

The impact caused the battery pack of Tesla to spontaneously combust, however Chinese battery manufacturing giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) said it did not make the battery pack for the car.

This is not the first time a Tesla has caught fire and more so in China itself. Before beginning local manufacturing in China, the world's most valuable automaker was selling imported Model S and X in the country. One such Model S caught fire in 2019.

A video went viral on Chinese social media which showed a parked Tesla Model S car exploding. The video was widely shared on China's Twitter-like Weibo and showed the parked EV emit smoke and burst into flames seconds later. A video purportedly of the aftermath showed a line of three cars completely destroyed.

Tesla quickly sent a team to investigate the matter. There have been at least 14 instances of Tesla cars catching fire since 2013, with the majority occurring after a crash. However, no such incident was recorded in last 2 years, and the recent Chinese fire incident is the latest one after a couple of years.

The automaker has said its EVs are approximately 10 times less likely to experience a fire than petrol-powered cars, based on its fleet of over 500,000 vehicles which have driven more than 10 billion miles. It did not specify whether the statistic referred to normal use or involving accidents.