When debris on a freeway near Seattle, Washington, pierced the battery of a US$70,000-plus Tesla Model S and touched off a raging fire, it raised new safety concerns for owners of electric cars.
It also caused rare jitters among investors, who of late have viewed Tesla as nearly invincible.
Electric vehicles have scored well in government tests of front and side crashes – the Model S earned the highest score possible. But Tuesday’s incident demonstrates that real-world driving could reveal some vulnerabilities that don’t show up in labouratory testing.
“The safety challenges related to electric cars are still in the early stages of being tested and addressed,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at car guide publisher Kelley Blue Book.
Tesla said the driver hit a large metal object in the road, which damaged a battery cell and caused a fire. The company said the car acted as designed by containing the blaze in the front of the vehicle.
Still, experts said on Thursday that while incidents like this will happen again, they are rare. And electric cars are still safer than those with petrol engines that haul around a tank full of flammable fuel.