A Tesla Semi truck crashed into trees on the side of the road and caught fire on Highway 80 near Emigrant Gap in California early Monday morning, August 19 (29 August). The accident, which happened near the border of California and Nevada, blocked the road on both sides and disturbed the normal flow of traffic. The hazardous materials management team along with firefighters were sent to the scene of the accident to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading further.
According to KCRA 3 and other media, the accident happened shortly after 3:00 a.m. local time. The Tesla truck, which was working for the company, veered off the road and hit trees near the highway. After that, the truck’s lithium-ion battery pack started a massive fire.
The driver of the truck was able to get out of the accident safely and was later taken to the hospital for evaluation. The authorities are investigating the cause of this accident; including whether the driver’s fatigue may be effective in this accident or not.
To deal with the situation ahead, the firefighters faced a big problem; Because the electric battery of the truck could ignite again due to its special characteristics and it was very difficult to extinguish it. The firefighting teams poured thousands of liters of water on the remains of the truck to reduce the temperature of the battery to a safe level of nearly 37 degrees Celsius. The fire finally subsided by afternoon and teams were able to safely remove the truck from the scene. The road was fully reopened around 7:00 p.m. That is, approximately 16 hours after the accident.
The incident once again ignited widespread concerns about the safety of electric vehicles and their batteries. There is no statistical evidence that electric cars are more likely to catch fire than gasoline cars; But the cause and consequences of fire in electric cars can be very different from cars powered by fossil fuels. Tesla Semi truck batteries, like other giant electric vehicle batteries, are prone to massive fires that can take hours to put out.
The fire not only destroyed the truck; Rather, it exposed the people present in the scene to inhalation of harmful substances by releasing toxic fumes. This issue fueled the complexity of firefighting operations; Because the teams had to make sure that the fire did not spread to the surrounding plants and properly manage the toxic smoke.
Tesla often uses semi trucks to transport battery packs between its Gigafactory in Nevada and its assembly plant in Fremont, California. The company hired a hazardous materials management team to manage the consequences of this incident. The remains of the truck were taken to Tesla’s facility in Sparks, Nevada for further examination. Since there are only a few dozen Tesla Semi trucks currently in operation, any incident involving one of them is likely to be scrutinized.
Another takeaway from the Tesla truck fire is the importance of developing efficient procedures for managing electric vehicle fires, especially larger ones like the Tesla Semi. By the way Ryan WesnerChief of the California Fire Department, currently there is no standard instruction for managing incidents like the mentioned incident.
This is not the first time that Tesla’s large batteries have caught fire in California. In 2022, the company’s Megawatt energy storage batteries caught fire at a local facility, blocking part of the highway.
