Last week, a Russian man by the name of Alexey Tretyakov and his two children collided with a tow truck that was parked while driving down a highway in Moscow. Fortunately, no lives were lost during the accident. Tretyakov is suffering from a broken leg according to reports, though. However, the car was not this lucky. Soon after the explosion, Tesla Model 3 of Tretyakov exploded twice.
According to reports, the driver – Alexey Tretyakov – was utilizing the driver-assist feature and a trimmed version of the Autopilot. This limited the Model 3 semi-autonomous abilities to lane-keeping and not much more. There have been various reports of a fire that involved Tesla vehicles. However, this is the first incident where the latest Model 3 has caught on fire.
A nearby traffic camera was able to capture the video of the crash in low-quality. You can check it out below. As you know, putting out a fire that is being fueled by a punctured lithium-ion battery can prove to be quite a tricky business. A lot of the fire departments make use of chemical suppressants instead of water for tackling fires. However, when it comes to an EV battery fire, it is advised to aim a constant stream of water directly at the battery until the fire dies. Once the fire is out, the firefighters are instructed to make use of an imaging camera to survey the battery and determine that it has been cooled down.
Tesla has partnered with Cal Fire and the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) for creating a video back in April 2019 that describes the steps that are necessary for effectively taking out an EV fire. Tesla has yet to issue a statement about the recent fire. Nonetheless, the NFPA and the US Department of Transportation have stated that one fire occurs for every 19 million miles that are traveled. This figure was also cited by Tesla in its latest safety report.
