Tesla investigates video of parked Model S exploding in Shanghai

SHANGHAI -- Tesla Inc. said it has sent a team to investigate a video on Chinese social media that shows a parked Tesla Model S exploding, the latest in a string of fire incidents involving Tesla's cars.

The video, time-stamped Sunday evening and widely shared on China's Twitter-like Weibo, shows the parked electric vehicle emit smoke and burst into flames seconds later. A video purportedly of the aftermath shows a line of three destroyed cars.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the origins of the videos, which Weibo users said were taken in Shanghai.

The cause of the explosion could not be immediately ascertained from the videos.

Tesla shares fell 3.8 percent to close at $262.75 in New York.

"We immediately sent a team onsite and we're supporting local authorities to establish the facts. From what we know now, no one was harmed," Tesla said in a statement Monday.

It declined to comment further when contacted by Reuters.

There have been at least 14 instances of Tesla cars catching fire since 2013, with the majority occurring after a crash.

The automaker has said its EVs are about 10 times less likely to experience a fire than gasoline-powered cars, based on its fleet of over 500,000 vehicles, which have driven more than 10 billion miles. It did not specify whether the statistic referred to normal use or involved accidents.

Reputation

The latest incident comes as Tesla tries to push sales in China, where its prices were impacted by tit-for-tat tariffs imposed during trade tensions with the U.S. last year.

The automaker imports all the vehicles it sells in China, but it is building a factory here that will initially make the Model 3 and help reduce the impact of a trade war.

In March, Tesla was on the receiving end of a labeling mix-up at customs that led to a temporary suspension of clearance for a batch of Model 3 cars.

Analysts said the latest fire likely would increase attention on the safety of EVs but was unlikely to have a significant impact on Tesla's sales or reputation in China while the cause was being investigated.

"Tesla had fire incidents before, but they didn't have a big impact on its reputation in China," said analyst Alan Kang, of LMC Automotive.

"Since its consumer base is not particularly conservative, and China is pushing the electric vehicle market, if this incident is just accidental, it will not have a big impact on Tesla," he said.

Viral in China

"Tesla self-ignites" was one of the most popular hashtags on Weibo on Monday, racking up over 20 million clicks. Some users urged the automaker to quickly find the cause, whereas others speculated over the impact to the value of Teslas currently on the road. Still more found humor in the situation.

"One lesson I learnt from the Shanghai self-exploding Tesla: Don't park your car next to a Tesla," said one commenter.

In an unrelated incident, Tesla's rival in China, Nio, said in a social media post that an ES8 electric crossover that was under repair caught fire Monday in a Nio service center in the central city of Xian.

"Nio has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire," Nio said, adding no one was harmed in the incident.