The dangers of lithium ion batteries can be immense, particularly when they overheat, which is exactly what the owner of a 2019 Jaguar I-Pace named Gonzalo Salazar found out in June of 2022, when he plugged his car, which he had bought new in 2020, in for the night, then unplugged it and left to run some errands.
For reference, the lithium-ion battery, while generally useful and efficient as batteries, can be problematic in that the intense fires created when they overheat or catch on fire are nearly impossible to put out by traditional firefighting means, as the heat is intense and so reignition is a major issue.
In any case, the aforementioned Jaguar owner fought that out the hard way when his car caught fire. Here’s what he says happened: “On June 16, I plugged the car in before going to bed. In the morning of June 17, I woke up and unplugged the car. Later that morning, I set out to run some errands. I drove about 12 miles that morning before returning back home and parking the car back in the garage, leaving the garage door open.”
Continuing, he described suddenly realizing what was happening, saying, “As I was doing things at home, I heard pops coming from the garage. I decided to go see where the sounds were coming from, and upon walking into the garage, I faced a thick wall of smoke. My thought immediately was, ‘When there is smoke there is fire,’ and I need to get the car out of the house garage.”
Fortunately, he was able to get the car out of the garage and onto the street, so though the fire ended up burning his car to a crisp, his home and all inside it was safe. He said, describing that aspect of the saga: “I went back to the house to get my phone and also noticed that all the smoke in the garage now had filled my entire house because the A/C unit is right next to the garage door. While I was trying to ventilate my house from the smoke I called Jaguar roadside assistance to have them come get the car.”
Concluding the story, the Jaguar owner described the continuing burn and calling the fire department. He said, “When I ended the conversation with them there were more pops, but this time it was followed by fire from under the car. I then called 911 to come help with the situation. But this was not a slow burn, once the fire started there were multiple pops, and the car was just engulfed in flames rapidly.”
Watch the wild video of the EV fire here:
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Here’s the aftermath:
Another EV fire… this one from Florida earlier this summer. A Jaguar i-pace was parked in an attached garage when the owner heard "popping" sounds and saw smoke puffing from the car. The car was moved outside before it burst into flames. I guess you can call them "lucky". pic.twitter.com/JUOwthCSb4
— Old Brass (@StoichioGuy) August 2, 2022
That was the fourth random fire of the Jaguar I-Pace, so though the unprovoked fires aren’t super common (there are about 50,000 I-Pace Jaguars on the road), it is somewhat odd that they keep happening. Yet worse for the EV industry is that the issue isn’t a new one. The same thing happened to the Chevy Bolt EV, as Electrek reported.
Image credit: Twitter screengrab