A Tesla service center in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou was temporarily shut down after a fire broke out on-site, resulting in multiple vehicles being damaged, state media publication The Paper reported on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Damage from the incident was captured in a video that was widely shared on Chinese social media and will likely intensify concerns about the safety of electric vehicles, one of the existing barriers to wider EV adoption.
Details: Footage of the fire posted by multiple Chinese online users showed that a Tesla in-house body repair center in Suzhou, a neighboring city of Shanghai, was engulfed by flame and thick clouds of smoke on July 8.
- There were no reported deaths or injuries, though several Tesla vehicles were damaged by fire and heat. The cause of the fire is under investigation, local officials said.
- A crashed Tesla car with a damaged battery pack was involved in the incident, Sun Shaojun, a Chinese auto journalist, said on the Twitter-like platform Weibo.
- A Tesla service representative confirmed the incident to state media outlet The Paper on Tuesday, saying that the company has temporarily closed the location without providing a timeline for when it will reopen.
Context: Tesla is not alone when it comes to such accidents. Last month, the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management reported 640 fire incidents involving EVs in the first quarter of 2022, a 32% increase from a year earlier. Battery damage, collision, and hot weather conditions are some of the leading causes.
- A fire was also reported at a BYD repair shop in the southern city of Nanning on July 9, which the automaker said was due to a “short circuit.”
- Last month, a Voyah-branded electric crossover, produced by state-owned automaker Dongfeng, burst into flames on the street in the central Hubei province. No people were injured in the fire, which occurred on June 27.