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SLIDESHOW: Palo Alto firefighters knocked down a fire in a parking lot at 4190 El Camino Real that burned for about two and a half hours on Aug. 7, 2022. Photo by Gennady Sheyner. -
SLIDESHOW: Palo Alto firefighters knocked down a fire in a parking lot at 4190 El Camino Real that burned for about two and a half hours on Aug. 7, 2022. Photo by Gennady Sheyner. -
Palo Alto firefighters knocked down a fire in a parking lot at 4190 El Camino Real that started around 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2022. Photo by Gennady Sheyner. -
Palo Alto firefighters knocked down a fire in a parking lot at 4190 El Camino Real that started around 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2022. Photo by Gennady Sheyner.
The spontaneous combustion of faulty Tesla lithium-ion batteries caused a large, early morning fire at two car dealerships in Palo Alto last August, according to two recently released fire inspection reports.
The batteries, which were stored in wooden crates in an outside storage area, accidentally ignited, burning a nearby Ford F-250 truck and destroying a mobile-office building, according to reports by the Santa Clara County Fire Investigation Task Force and the Palo Alto Fire Prevention Bureau, which was the lead investigative agency. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also assisted with the investigation.
A chemical reaction from an unknown failure within a cell of one of the Tesla batteries created an increase in internal temperature, which ignited flammable electrolyte fluid within the battery. That heat ignited surrounding cells, which in turn set the wooden crates ablaze, the reports found.
“These batteries contain no free lithium metal but do contain lithium ions and highly flammable electrolytes,” the Santa Clara County Fire report stated. “Lithium batteries are capable of spontaneous ignition and subsequent explosion from overheating. Internal failures may be caused by electrical shorting, rapid discharge, overcharging, manufacturers’ defect, poor design, or mechanical damage, among many other causes.
“Overheating of these batteries results in a process called thermal runaway, which is a reaction within the battery causing internal temperature and pressure to rise at a quicker rate then can be dissipated,” the report continued.
“Once one battery cell goes into thermal runaway, it produces enough heat to cause adjacent battery cells to also go into thermal runaway. This event produces a fire, which repeatedly flares up as each battery cell in turn ruptures and releases its contents. The result is the release of flammable electrolyte from the battery,” the county’s report noted.
The fire began on Aug. 7, 2022, at about 5:30 a.m. in an outside storage area of the Tesla dealership and service center located at 4180 El Camino Real, near Arastradero Road, according to the Palo Alto Fire report.
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SLIDESHOW: The interior of a mobile-office building that was burned in an early-morning fire at two car dealerships in the 4100 block of El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Aug. 7, 2022. Courtesy Palo Alto Fire Department. -
SLIDESHOW: The interior of a mobile-office building that was burned in an early-morning fire at two car dealerships in the 4100 block of El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Aug. 7, 2022. Courtesy Palo Alto Fire Department. -
A Ford F-250 truck was damaged during an early-morning fire at two car dealerships in the 4100 block of El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Aug. 7, 2022. Courtesy Palo Alto Fire Department. -
A Ford F-250 truck was damaged during an early-morning fire at two car dealerships in the 4100 block of El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Aug. 7, 2022. Courtesy Palo Alto Fire Department. -
Wooden pallets were burned in an early-morning fire at two car dealerships in the 4100 block of El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Aug. 7, 2022. Courtesy Palo Alto Fire Department. -
Wooden pallets were burned in an early-morning fire at two car dealerships in the 4100 block of El Camino Real in Palo Alto on Aug. 7, 2022. Courtesy Palo Alto Fire Department.
Twelve batteries in wooden crates had been placed along a chain link fence, with the McLaren/Volvo dealership to the east of the fence at 4190 El Camino Real. Video footage from the McLaren/Volvo dealership and from Tesla confirm the location of the fire’s origin, according to the Palo Alto report.
The fire quickly spread to engulf the Ford truck that was parked north of the batteries and to seven crates of Tesla Roadster batteries, which were to the south along the fence. Once started, the fire jumped to a mobile-office building located at the McLaren/Volvo dealership along the fence. The trailer and the batteries were less than 5 feet away from each other across the property line.
As a result of the fire, several of the individual cells of the batteries sustained structural damage and catastrophic failures; some individual cells exploded, shooting into the McLaren lot, the Palo Alto fire report noted.
The Ford truck was left with major damage. Fire patterns indicated the blaze moved toward the vehicle and that it was not the origin of the fire, the Santa Clara County report noted.
The mobile office also suffered structural and interior damage, and the heat from the fire caused the roof to collapse, the reports noted.
The fire caused damage of about $300,000.
Fire inspectors ruled out other potential causes of the fire, including electrical, nearby mechanical equipment and weather. There were no indications of a break-in at either of the properties and no evidence of incendiary devices, the report noted.
Tesla sent its own team to investigate the fire. According to the Palo Alto Fire report, Tesla stated that it “could not rule out mechanical damage, cell spontaneous runaway, or preexisting critical damage to the pack as a root cause” and considered the cause of the fire to be “undetermined.”
Two firefighters were injured by toxic-fume inhalation and another injured their knee. One of the firefighters was transported to Stanford Hospital’s emergency department for evaluation. Another firefighter sought medical care after the incident, according to the Palo Alto inspection report.
An employee at the Palo Alto Tesla showroom on Friday, April 14, referred this news organization’s questions to the corporate office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
I periodically read about Tesla fires. Does anybody know if Tesla is working on fixing this scary problem?
The fire was caused by batteries incorrectly stored, not actually in Tesla cars.
It is possible that these batteries were known as faulty!
The lot where Tesla’s new cars are on & the lot behind (where Walgreens is located) is totally sus. Waiting in line to get my drive thru PCR tests in 2021/22 gave me ample opportunity to observe how the trade in car lot was faulty — the autos we’re separate & neglected from its Tesla new lot: trash cans, street garbage & a electronic cyclone fence (We were forced to line up on the city street because Tesla had jurisdiction of the storage car lot — and unsafe for their cv commerce & its thru traffic). post fire, the Walgreens shut down thier drive thru COVID testing site — My point? There is none or little oversight by our city when it comes to car dealerships of this magnitude. It’s All about curbside speak & looks. From ECR it’s all shiny new Tesla’s. From the rear it’s nothing more than desert of greenery
A toxic junk yard. This is all on par w how the City of PA operate — all optics. Example: Related /Mayfield Place “looks” all pretty from ECR passerby. yet come around 2 the backside or inside a apt unit— it’s a cheap junk heap of concrete, prefab everything, vinyls, plastic & zero to hang a mop, store bed sheets or my children’s winter jackets. It’s a fire hazard living or working among combustible material. hard working, very low income families have 2 navigate among, hourly/daily.
PSA: Teslas and EVs have 11x *fewer* fires than gas cars, which… are propelled by the ignition of flammable material. This means that if you fill your car up with gas, your car is 11 times more likely to catch on fire than a Tesla.
All Teslas monitor battery temperature, actively cool/warm them as needed, and disconnect in case of thermal runaway. They’re also insulated with fire-retardant foam.
Are EV fires more difficult to put out than gas cars? Yep.
Is this a Tesla issue? Nope.
Is this 11x more likely to happen to your gas car? Yep.