Another electric car catches fire

A Hyundai Kona Electric has burst into flames in Montreal, Canada, causing substantial damage and blowing the doors off a garage, according to overseas reports.

The owner, Piero Cosentino, said the electric vehicle (EV) was not plugged in when he noticed smoke pouring out from the garage moments before the Hyundai Kona Electric went up in flames, but it is thought high summer temperatures could have played a factor.

“As soon as I saw that, I immediately turned off the breaker,” he said in an interview with CBC. “My first instinct was to go out and run outside so I did not have to open doors and feed the fire.”

Meanwhile, Montreal Fire Department division chief Louise Desrosiers told Radio Canada that “there was nothing around that could have caused the explosion”.

“We will be following up … closely with the owner to understand the problem in anticipation of other cars.”

No injuries were reported.

While this is the first wide-spread reported incident of a Kona Electric exploding, Tesla’s EV range has faced numerous combustion issues this year with at least three Model S vehicles catching fire.

The first event occurred in China in April, where a Model S burst into flames in an underground car park.

The next accident happened just weeks later in San Francisco, with a Model S catching fire overnight while unplugged.

Finally, a Model S was reported to have burst into flames while charging at a Tesla high-power Supercharger station in Belgium in early June, which required a 24-hour water bath to ensure the lithium-ion batteries were completely extinguished.

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