There has always been many questions regarding the safety of EVs, which expose its passengers to a high voltage powertrain. although there are lot of safety measures followed by every car manufacturer. In a latest incident, in China, an electric car can be seen exploding after it caught fire while charging, due to a potential battery malfunction.
The incident happened at a charging station in Sanming, located in southern China.
As per reports, the electric car in the video shown below, was facing issues with charging. After a plug-in, smoke started to come out of the car and it also caught fire. Fire fighters were called subsequently and they tried the conventional technique of cooling things off with water. All this while, the car was still plugged into the charger. However, this was not the right thing to do, as using water is generally not advised for fires involving batteries, especially the ones that have lithium inside of it. Watch the explosion video below.
https://youtu.be/KWX5aJ63fU8
This fire, was followed by an explosion with the panels of the vehicle getting detached and landing in different directions with a huge amount of force. The video also shows a vehicle panel piercing the roof of the charging area. The car is also said to have shrunk in the process.
As per experts, either the EV’s charger or the charging station had some issue that led to this incident or the car, which is reportedly a plug-in hybrid BAIC EX360 model, had some malfunction in its battery. But the actual cause of the explosion is yet to be revealed and is investigated. As per local media, no injuries were reported at the explosion site.
The incident also puts a question mark on the fire-fighters who were unfamiliar with handling such incidents, involving lithium battery and fire. Instead of putting water on the fire, had they cut the power supply, the incident could have been prevented.