The extreme flammability of EV batteries was recently proven in Florida after a Tesla Model X slid down a boat ramp and was left to burn by firefighters
36 seconds ago
Launching your watercraft is always stressful. There’s the challenge of backing up a trailer, the jeopardy of doing that with an expensive piece of equipment behind you, and the added spice of reversing towards a large body of water. However, a couple in Hollywood, Florida, learned that things can get a whole lot more stressful than that when their Tesla Model X slid into the water.
The incident occurred last month, when the driver of the Model X was attempting to launch a jet ski into the water. According to a video posted to YouTube, the jet ski did get away, but things started going haywire in the EV.
An unseen person in the video claims that the woman behind the wheel became trapped inside the Model X after warning messages allegedly started showing on the dashboard. The woman was then helped out of the car by her husband, who was on the jet ski.
advertisement scroll to continue
Read: Oh, No! Honda CR-V Takes A Plunge In Boat Launch Gone Horribly Wrong
It’s unclear at what point the Model X started sliding into the water, but the Hollywood Professional Firefighters report that the vehicle “lost traction and slid into the inter-coastal.” It says that the salt water then reacted with the electronics, causing them to short, and sparking a fire that burned for an “extended period of time.”
“The fire was allowed to burn underwater until it extinguished itself,” Hollywood Professional Firefighters wrote on Facebook. “And even then, it had to be loaded carefully onto a special carrier, and followed by the Fire Engine to the impound lot, where they’ll keep the vehicle isolated for a few days in the very real possibility of re-ignition.”
Fortunately, despite the obvious dangers of both a fire and a vehicle becoming submerged underwater (two dangers you wouldn’t normally expect to face at the same time), everyone got away from the Model X in time, and no one was injured.
Although this could have happened to any EV, it’s worth remembering what fate befell this Tesla the next time Elon Musk says that his vehicles can be used as a boat.