Footage out of China has captured the moment an electric vehicle exploded while at a charging station with the incident said to have take place sometime in August.
Local reports suggest that the owner of the red EV parked the car in Sanming, southern China, and connected it to a charging station. It is hard to say with certainty what model it is, but as reported by Drive, it does share a resemblance to the BAIC EX360. It’s also possible it was a plug-in hybrid model from BAIC.
Regardless of the model, it is reported that smoke started to come out of the car shortly after it was plugged in at the charging station. The owner quickly called the fire department, who proceeded to spray the EV with cold water.
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Video filmed by someone in an apartment tower nearby shows fire crews directing a jet of water right at the rear of the vehicle. The car then explodes in a ball of flames, shooting body panels in all directions and blowing a hole through the roof of the charging station.
We’re not firefighters, but a little bit of research suggests that using water on an electric vehicle fire is a better solution than foam or other dry chemicals that many fire departments use for other types of fires. In fact, it appears the best way to control an EV fire is by keeping a direct and focused stream on the battery. That looks to be exactly what the fire crews were doing in this instance.
We suspect some kind of investigation will be launched into the incident and, hopefully, will help answer some of the questions that the explosion has unavoidably raised.