Tesla probes video of Model S exploding in Shanghai
Incident comes as company is trying to drive sales in China
Shanghai — US electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla says it has sent a team to investigate a video on Chinese social media which shows a parked Tesla Model S car exploding, the latest in a string of fire incidents involving Tesla’s cars. The video, time-stamped Sunday evening and widely shared on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, shows the parked EV emitting smoke and bursting into flames. A video purportedly of the aftermath shows a line of three cars destroyed. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the origins of the videos, which Weibo users said were taken in Shanghai. The cause of the explosion could not be ascertained from the videos. “We immediately sent a team onsite and we’re supporting local authorities to establish the facts. From what we know now, no one was harmed,” Tesla said on Monday.
There have been at least 14 instances of Tesla cars catching fire since 2013, with the majority occurring after a crash.The carmaker has said its EVs are about 10 times less likel...
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