Posted on 08/16/2016 10:11:48 AM PDT by Red Badger
DETROIT - A Tesla Model S spontaneously burst into flames in Monday while on a test drive in France, according to French media reports.
The car was being driven by a couple and a representative of Tesla as part of an event hosted by the California electric carmaker. The Model S sedan was cruising on the boulevard d'Aritxague in Bayonne in the southwest of France when the incident occurred.
The driver of the car told French media outlet Sud Ouest that after a little acceleration there was a warning noise in the car, at which point the Tesla host told the driver to pull over so she could call Tesla about the issue before continuing the test drive.
The trio then saw white smoke, and exited the vehicle. The driver, identified only as Nicolas, said the car was engulfed in flames in less than a minute and totally destroyed within five minutes. No one was injured.
Tesla said in a statement to Agence France Presse the company is working with authorities to determine what happened.
A video of the car engulfed in flames was posted to Twitter:
Incendie de la #Tesla lundi 15 août 2016 à #Bayonne. Avant l'arrivée des pompiers. Voiture complètement détruite. pic.twitter.com/qT8h6ccFoP Cédric Faiche (@cedricfaiche) August 15, 2016
I guess after BattleBots is finishes it’s run ABC can have destruction derby’s with Tesla’s.
Now that’s entertainment!
Wait, are we sure this test wasn’t conducted by NBC Dateline?
At that price, it may not be refer madness, but it’s madness.
The up in smoke part of course...
The new color:
Cherries Jubilee!................
May be the case, with safety systems on newer fuel powered vehicles. In either case, with the ignition of the fuel in the tank, or the batteries shorting out, the damage will be just as bad.
With a IC engine vehicle, immolation is a real possibility, with being incinerated in your own car highly likely.
In an electric car, the energy isn’t dissipated as fast, the total energy less than a tank of gas or diesel, and the battery controller alerting you to a problem before it becomes inescapable.
Of course, exposure to various burning lithium compounds combined with assorted burning plastics isn’t going to do wonders for your health either.
The point is neither technology has an edge when it comes to safety. They all have risks.
Not quite. Le Tune-up de Youngstown would have left nothing of the car.
Those were dark days in Y-town. The joke was, “The barber would cut his hair for $2, but charge him $3 to start his car”.
I was born and raised there. Seemed like once a week someone took the big boom.
1971 Pontiac Ventura. The floor board rotted out on the front passenger side. The rubber floor mat dropped down through the hole and touched the hot exhaust manifold, catching fire as I drove down I-79.
Obviously I lived to tell the tale.
Maybe you can answer a question I’ve had about Youngstown.
Several people who have lived there tell me that the most ghetto part of town is known widely to locals by a name that is so brazenly offensive and racist, I could not possibly post it here.
Is that true??
there are lots of “most ghetto parts of town” in Y-town. North side, East side, South side, but to answer your question, it’s true.
That’s quite a carbon footprint.
NBC Dateline footage?
That’s the first Tesla truck I’ve seen.
ROFLMAO!!!!!!..................
I think that the batteries on the Tesla weigh about 1600 pounds. The battery (packs?) extend from the front bumper to the rear and are almost as wide, about 1 foot less than the width.
22 gallons of gas @ 6.2 per gal, equals slightly over 136 lbs. So about 12 times more. That is significant.
You are right, the battery fire is severe.
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
Did Sam drive a Tesla?..................
I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and there a Tesla lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.