While searching Latin American press looking for news about Venezuela's sponsorship scandal we came across this report of a Tesla model S doing a fair imitation of an Italian super car.
The accident happened ten days ago in Mexico. Reports say the speeding driver, who adding to the super car mystique disappeared from the scene, jumped a curb and flew into a low wall, the crash setting the car on fire.
Jalopnik had just confirmed the US government has declined to investigate a recent case of a Model S igniting after a crash in Seattle at the beginning of October. The logic being, cars catch on fire all the time, move along, nothing to see...
As these things are becoming more and more prevalent, what is the correct way to put out an electric car fire anyway?..
UPDATE: More people pay attention to Axis than we imagined, by the end of the day Monday Tesla stock fell as this story was picked up by the financial press, Bloomberg, Yahoo, USA today, the Associated Press as well as Jalopnik, Autoblog and countless other car web sites.
Tesla Motors issued the following statement:
“We were able to contact the driver quickly and are pleased that he is safe. This was a significant accident where the car was traveling at such a high speed that it smashed through a concrete wall and then hit a large tree, yet the driver walked away from the car with no permanent injury. He is appreciative of the safety and performance of the car and has asked if we can expedite delivery of his next Model S.”
I'm not a Tesla advocate or enthusiast. Poor quality. Cheese-ball design. Most importantly, these Tesla cars are a disgrace to the '80's hair band of the same name. If "Love is gonna find a way," then maybe they could make these cars safe enough so that if something fails on the car or someone crashes into you...they don't go up in flames! And the reason why the government won't investigate - Tesla received massive amounts of tax payer dollars just to be able to stay in business. It doesn't look good if the government had a hand in helping to create a death trap. Its not good PR. As for Musk, his only legit fortune made from PayPal, it must be nice being the worlds first government made and government subsidized billionaire.
ReplyDeleteBefore jumping to conclusions that these things are not safe ... before reeling off a bunch of incorrect statements about Tesla ...
ReplyDeleteHow many gas car fires per year are there? Over 200,000 a year.
What is the rate of gas car fires versus electric car fires? EV car fires are dramatically fewer in number.
In the gasoline car world, car fires are so common they aren't reported.
"Poor Quality"? Then how come Consumer Reports gave the Model S a 99 score? What about all the other reviews by major outlets raving about the Model S .. Car of the Year etc awards from multiple outlets.
On what objective evaluation are you basing your claim of poor quality? What the hell does an 80s band have to do with anything? Tesla Motors is taking the namesake of Nicola Tesla, inventor of the 3 phase AC induction motor that is used to propel the car. Both instances of a Model S catching on fire involved the car colliding with an object, not another vehicle crashing into the Model S or something on the car failing, so that statement is invalid. Model S is one of the safest cars on the road, as proven by its 5 star rating in all NHTSA testing categories. Tesla took out a LOAN from the Dept. of Energy, and that loan has already been repaid far ahead of schedule. The government had literally zero involvement in the development of this car, nor did it subsidize Tesla in any way whatsoever. As for Mr. Musk, he's poured a substantial amount of his own personal wealth into Tesla to keep it alive, and it's to his credit that the company is thriving today. You sir, need to get your information right before spewing out a bunch of assertions like this.
ReplyDeleteThe front end of the car is GONE! This was obviously a huge crash, so the safety of the car is somewhat difficult to argue with if the driver was able to flee the scene of the accident, don't you think? Sometimes when you crash like this guy did there is a chance of a fire, same goes for most gasoline cars. This was not spontaneous combustion due to a minor fender bender, the guy was clearly driving very fast.... This man's stupidity caused this fire, not the highly suggestive idea that the car is unsafe, or of poorly quality. I hope Tesla continue to strive as they are pioneers in this field, I personally would like to see them succeed, it would be unrealistic to think there won't be any "bumps" in the road along the way.
ReplyDeleteTesla the band was also a tribute to ol' Nick
ReplyDeleteDon't really have a dog in this fight, but how many of those 200K cars are less than a year old? I mean a car caught fire in front of my building in midtown Manhattan two days ago but it was an old Lincoln owned by a clown who installed aftermarket "xenons"....
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate that there was a fire, but I don't think it can be claimed that it makes the Tesla an unsafe car. As for the poor quality comment, drive one, sit in one, be near one and you can't really make that claim, they're put together pretty damn well. Cheese-ball design? I think they're super-sexy when optioned right, but that's of course always going to be an eye of the beholder type situation. Earlier reply refutes ignorant claims of Tesla being paid for by Uncle Sam. As for how to put out an electric car fire? I'm pretty sure you're supposed to pour baking soda on it. Or is that something else?
ReplyDeleteWell... if the owner was able to get out of that car accident... and somebody took the photo were the car is not get burned...mmmm
ReplyDeleteThat make me think, was the under insurance?
Easiest way to claim it... burn it. :D
BTW powder in your car's fire extinguisher is the best method ... still the only problem with electric cars is that you can't switch off... so I'm guessing you should be very careful no to touch anything or get in contact with the extinguisher itself.
What a bunch of morons.
ReplyDelete1. The non-existence of the front of the car does not speak to the speed of impact. The car is designed to crumble like that to absorb energy and protect occupants.
2. Li-ion is highly flammable. Saying otherwise is just ignorant.
3. Yes, gasoline cars catch fire. However, they usually aren't brand new when they do. Saying there are 200,000 gasoline car fires each year, when there are 300,000,000 gasoline cars on the road means that 0.0007% of gasoline powered cars catch fire. The number is something like 0.0001% for Tesla, so not that different. My guess is that if you compare only NEW cars, the numbers will be the same.
That is really a severe car accident.
ReplyDeleteBuy
my Car
NIce informative stuff has been shared.
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car
If the damage to the battery area was relatively small (as you would expect in a front-end collision) it would take a while for the fire to grow.
ReplyDelete