Did you see the Tesla fire?

[Tico]

Towards the end of the 45-second video in this BBC link it looks like one of those flame thrower weapons is under the car.

This can't be good for Tesla or the reputation of electric cars, though of course there are a zillion examples of gas cars blowing up.

Public perception can be a fickle and irrational thing, especially now that everyone has a video-capable phone and the explosion of social media.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44511200

[ahorsewithnonam]

Wow, that is scary..

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Tico

...Public perception can be a fickle and irrational thing, especially now that everyone has a video-capable phone and the explosion of social media...

My thoughts exactly, and for many reasons - I'll sit this one out until there are enough hard facts to sort out the ice cream from the crap...

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Tico

Public perception can be a fickle and irrational thing, especially now that everyone has a video-capable phone and the explosion of social media.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44511200

Not to mention the explosion capable video phones --- viva la Samsung

[ManyMartinMan]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

My thoughts exactly, and for many reasons - I'll sit this one out until there are enough hard facts to sort out the ice cream from the crap...

Car fires occur every day, in every city. This one happens to be on a Tesla. Nothing to see here.

[Imbler]

I'm not a particular fan of the Tesla for my own reasons, but statistics show them to burn far less often than the 90 burns of gasoline vehicles per billion miles driven.

[lowrider]

Has it been determined what was burning? From the tweet by his wife it appears that it started while it was moving;

''"No accident, out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over,"

I'm a big fan. Since I couldn't afford the car, I bought the stock ar opening with the plan to buy the car when the stock went high enough. Liked owning the stock and it was a wild ride. Sold it with the plan to buy it back when it dropped after the ''drill baby drill'' guys got elected. Instead, it went up another 100 points. You never know!

Anyway, it looks like an acetylene tank it on fire under the car. Could be the battery, but would a battery burn like that?

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by lowrider

Has it been determined what was burning? From the tweet by his wife it appears that it started while it was moving;



''"No accident, out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over,"



I'm a big fan. Since I couldn't afford the car, I bought the stock ar opening with the plan to buy the car when the stock went high enough. Liked owning the stock and it was a wild ride. Sold it with the plan to buy it back when it dropped after the ''drill baby drill'' guys got elected. Instead, it went up another 100 points. You never know!



Anyway, it looks like an acetylene tank it on fire under the car. Could be the battery, but would a battery burn like that?

https://youtu.be/np5Kdsyk6-k

If a small 3.7V battery in an e cig can blow up like that, imagine what the battery pack on a Tesla or any other electric vehicle can do.

[RedJoker]

Wow, seeing these battery fires is why I'm sticking with good old, non-combustible gasoline.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan

Car fires occur every day, in every city. This one happens to be on a Tesla. Nothing to see here.

Car fires do commonly occur in conventional vehicles that operate on the basis of introducing a flammable gas to a controlled spark. Most cars run on fire that sometimes gets out of control. Don't expect cars with batteries, wires, and magnets to do it so it qualifies under the "man bites dog" rules.