- A Tesla Semi burned down in California after a crash last month.
- The NTSB reports that it required 50,000 gallons of water to put it out.
- Causes of the crash are unknown but we do have more details now.
Wrecks happen every day and often, they include semi-trucks and tractor-trailers. For the first time last month though, a Tesla Semi had a wreck and burned to the ground. Now, the NTSB has an initial report on what happened and it’s wild to think of just what it took to put out the blaze.
Initially, it was clear that a fire happened, that the semi burned down, and that the driver was uninjured. The truck was the only vehicle involved and the road was closed for several hours.
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The NTSB report says that the crash happened at 3:13 in the morning and that the driver veered off of the road to the right and struck two objects. The first was a delineator on a steel post and the second was a tree just over a foot in diameter. After that, the semi came to rest against several other trees. The battery fire broke out only after the crash, not before.
Once it started though, fire crews needed roughly 50,000 gallons of water and between 14 and 15 hours to feel safe reopening the road. Thermal monitors indicated a maximum temperature of approximately 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (540 C).
To put those figures in perspective, consider this. That much water would fill a tank that is eight feet high and 33 feet around. 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit is hot enough to melt aluminum and about four times the temperature required to cause fourth-degree burns. It’s no surprise then that fire crews doused the area around this blaze with fire retardant to keep it from spreading.
Notably, there are still several details we don’t know. What caused the driver to veer off of the road? Were there any external circumstances that led to the crash? What exactly damaged the battery to the point that it burst into flames? One final point that the NTSB did make though was that the Tesla driver wasn’t using any automated driving systems at the time of the crash. We’ll update you as we learn more.