A week-old electric car costing over a million baht, suddenly caught fire while being charged in front of a shopping mall in Udon Thani, northeast Thailand.

 

The owner, a 41 year old man named Vin (pseudonym), was taken aback when 50% charged, the vehicle began to emit smoke from under the hood. Chinese engineers are currently investigating the electric car fire incident, which occurred at 2pm yesterday.

 

The scene of the electric car fire was a chaotic one, with smoke billowing from the hood of the grey BYD electric car, which was parked with a red registration plate. Firefighters and rescue workers from the Udon Thani Municipality and Udon Sawang Methatham Foundation were quick to respond, managing to extinguish the fire with foam before disconnecting the car’s battery and dousing it with water for a second time.

 

Vin described the electric car fire situation, explaining how he had driven the car to the mall for a family shopping trip. Upon arrival, he parked at the charging point since the car’s battery was at 10%. 

 

by Nattapong Westwood

Photo courtesy of KhaoSod.

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/week-old-electric-car-worth-over-a-million-baht-unexpectedly-catches-fire-at-udon-thani-mall-charging-point

 

-- The Thaiger 2023-09-04

 

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These EV cars are death traps and I will never drive them.

Thailand & electrickery do not appear to go well together - What will the future hold ....................LOL

16 minutes ago, webfact said:

electric car costing over a million baht,

Sounds like he was overcharged????

26 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Sounds like he was overcharged????

Nope - correct  :  https://en.byd.com/news/standard-range-of-byd-atto-3-launched-in-thailand/

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

Chinese engineers are currently investigating....

Why not Thai Engineers? (Stop sniggering!) Must it be Indian engineers  investigating MG incidents? Do Japanese engineers need to investigate Toyota malfunctions? 

Can't wait for the "It won't happen to my EV" brigade to turn up here, or "He should have bought an MG" crowd......................????

I'm expecting to see a lot more of these incidents as more and more people buy these Chinese EV's. 

 

I wonder how insurance premiums will be affected. I can't imagine it's a cheap fix once you car has burnt out.

7 minutes ago, rbkk said:

Why not Thai Engineers? (Stop sniggering!) Must it be Indian engineers  investigating MG incidents? Do Japanese engineers need to investigate Toyota malfunctions? 

I think it's pretty normal for the original manufacturer to investigate something of this nature.

1 minute ago, josephbloggs said:

I think it's pretty normal for the original manufacturer to investigate something of this nature.

The charging station was installed by Thai's. If that is to blame, BYD, I'm guessing, could sue for shedding bad light on their brand.

32 minutes ago, JoePai said:

Nope - correct  :  https://en.byd.com/news/standard-range-of-byd-atto-3-launched-in-thailand/

I think it was a play on words......????

It doesn't look damaged.

 

Perhaps the dealership will say 'normal'. 

How unlucky was that the warranty for combustion was only 6 days ????

Oohhh this topic will FIRE UP all the ev-vehicle haters in here.

Christmas came early for you guys.

1 minute ago, Shop mak said:

Oohhh this topic will FIRE UP all the ev-vehicle haters in here.

Christmas came early for you guys.

Not really, and haters is totally the wrong word....

1 hour ago, Keep Right said:

These EV cars are death traps and I will never drive them.

 

If you still around 30 years from now, when many or most countries have no more fossil fuel vehicles, How Will You Get Around?

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Not really, and haters is totally the wrong word....

Absolutely E-Vehiges do not save the world 

1 hour ago, transam said:

Can't wait for the "It won't happen to my EV" brigade to turn up here, or "He should have bought an MG" crowd......................????

To be fair......    have we not also read of numerous reports of ICE vehicles in flames here in Thailand (and elsewhere)..... 

 

The reality is any vehicle presents an extremely minor risk of combustion when something goes wrong or it is involved in an accident etc...   

 

 

E.V's certainly do not have a monopoly on combustion - any implication otherwise is simply presenting false and bias information.

Just now, richard_smith237 said:

To be fair......    have we not also read of numerous reports of ICE vehicles in flames here in Thailand (and elsewhere)..... 

 

The reality is any vehicle presents an extremely minor risk of combustion when something goes wrong or it is involved in an accident etc...   

 

 

E.V's certainly do not have a monopoly on combustion - any implication otherwise is simply presenting false and bias information.

I will try and find a vid on BYD and fires in China I watched a while back....????

14 minutes ago, transam said:

I will try and find a vid on BYD and fires in China I watched a while back....????

No need... I believe you that EV's can catch fire...  as do normal ICE's

I'm neither pro nor against EV's... but I do prefer to see factual rather than misleading information.

 

Evidence suggests that petrol cars are more likely to catch fire than an E.V.

 

Some stats (from link below).

A recent study by US insurer, AutoinsuranceEZ found that hybrid cars had the worst fire record, while EVs were the least likely type of car to catch fire.

- Hybrid cars had 3474 fires per 100,000 

- Petrol cars had 1,530 fires per 100,000

- EVs had just 25 fires per 100,000 

 

https://thefifthestate.com.au/energy-lead/energy/while-the-ev-markets-on-fire-the-vehicles-are-not/#:~:text=A recent study by US,25.1 fires per 100%2C000 sales.

 

 

https://thedriven.io/2023/05/16/petrol-and-diesel-cars-20-times-more-likely-to-catch-fire-than-evs/

 

 

https://belux.edmo.eu/fact-check-do-electric-cars-catch-fire-more-often-than-combustion-engine-cars/

 

 

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

I think it's pretty normal for the original manufacturer to investigate something of this nature.

If a Merc busts into flames on the expressway in BKK, I've never heard that German engineers are investigating the cause.????

23 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

To be fair......    have we not also read of numerous reports of ICE vehicles in flames here in Thailand (and elsewhere)..... 

 

The reality is any vehicle presents an extremely minor risk of combustion when something goes wrong or it is involved in an accident etc...   

 

 

E.V's certainly do not have a monopoly on combustion - any implication otherwise is simply presenting false and bias information.

I will try and find a vid on BYD and fires in China I watched a while back....????

 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

the vehicle began to emit smoke from under the hood.

So it was internal combustion????

Initial thoughts are the fire started around the 12v battery area and the lfp battery was not affected but need to wait for a proper investigation before coming to any conclusion.

 

Interestingly, it was reported , and seen on the video, that a lot of time was lost trying to open the bonnet !!, the BYD Atto 3 has a strange system in that the internal bonnet release catch has to be pulled twice to enable release.

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Evidence suggests that petrol cars are more likely to catch fire than an E.V.

 

Some stats (from link below).

A recent study by US insurer, AutoinsuranceEZ found that hybrid cars had the worst fire record, while EVs were the least likely type of car to catch fire.

- Hybrid cars had 3474 fires per 100,000 

- Petrol cars had 1,530 fires per 100,000

- EVs had just 25 fires per 100,000 

Lots of fake EV propaganda is getting pushed on naive souls, but so far no solid data on EV vs. ICE fires.

In the above, you omit that it is per 100,000 SALES. Since EV sales are just taking off, that skew the balance about a factor of 20 in favor of EV cars.

Bet a Somchai, had a tinker with his bent screwdriver

fitting something. 

1 hour ago, transam said:

"He should have bought an MG" crowd.

If MG ever make a performance version we can be sure it will not be called "Electro-Lyte"????

36 minutes ago, Shop mak said:

 

If you still around 30 years from now, when many or most countries have no more fossil fuel vehicles, How Will You Get Around?

Nonsense. Enough to last more than 60 years.

2 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Lots of fake EV propaganda is getting pushed on naive souls,

Not to mention all the furor about nuclear waste now we need nuclear power more than ever.????

BYD = ???? BurnYouDown ????