Tesla Semi bursts into flames on I-880 with no crash, shutting the freeway for 10 hours
Tesla Semi catches fire on I-880
A Tesla Semi caught fire in the southbound lanes of I-880 near Hayward, California, on Tuesday evening, and there was no crash. The truck's lithium-ion battery burned long enough to keep the freeway closed for roughly 10 hours, though the driver escaped unharmed. It's the second Semi fire to shut down a California interstate in about two years, and with volume production just starting, Tesla is under pressure to explain what went wrong.
If the pack went into thermal runaway on its own, Tesla needs to find out why before tens of thousands of these trucks hit the road, and fire departments need a better plan than letting a loaded truck burn on a freeway for half the night.
- avgDev
Difficult to deal with an electric semi that is on fire. For cars we have baths.
The fire from the batteries lasts hours, which is a huge issue for everyone else and the fire departments.
- declan_roberts
You know a Tesla was involved in an accident because they always make it part of the headline.
- maxdo
Electrek is so boring , big news :
clickbait vs statistic:
Gasoline truck :
From 2018 to 2022, large trucks accounted for an estimated 15,462 fires, 46 deaths, 102 injuries, and $416 million in property damage each year. That works out to roughly 40 large-truck fires a day.
Overall, Gas cars ( regular size) , getting on fire more often vs electric cars.
- ortusdux
Are battery fires like this more damaging to the road surface vs a diesel fire?
- sidcool
Electrek is a cesspool of bias. I'm not a fan of Musk, but electrek's irrational hatred is uncalled for
- pengaru
Wow, not much left of the semi - would love to see a photo of the metallic puddle it's presumably become...
- fourseventy
Is there an article every time a Mack Truck catches on fire?
- vessenes
The article is confusing - at one point it says the truck left the road, hit a bunch of stuff and caught on fire. At another it says they don't know if it was a battery pack fire that spread. I'll be interested to read the final safety reports and see if this was just an unlucky crash or something really bad happened with all that lithium.