9 Times Electric Vehicles Caught Fire in 2023

Connecticut Tesla still burning (Stamford Fire Department)
Stamford Fire Department
Hannah Knudsen

President Joe Biden has continued to push his green energy agenda throughout his presidency in various ways, from taking action to demolish American energy independence — like canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline as well as oil and gas leases — and pushing electric vehicles (EVs) on Americans.

But if one thing remains constant, it is the fact that Americans, by and large, are not interested in EVs. Automakers have even warned Biden that his green energy agenda is unrealistic, as there is no real demand for EVs. As Breitbart News recently detailed, “Executives with car dealerships from Massachusetts to Alabama to Wyoming sent a letter to Biden” in November, “urging his administration to drop EV mandates and green energy requirements on the auto industry, citing a lack of interest among American consumers in EVs.”

“Your administration has proposed regulations that would essentially mandate a dramatic shift to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), increasing year after year until 2032, when two out of every three vehicles sold in America would have to be battery electric,” they wrote in part, emphasizing the reality that EV demand is “not keeping up with the large influx of BEVs arriving at our dealerships prompted by the current regulations.”

“BEVs are stacking up on our lots,” they wrote.

All the while, former President Donald Trump has warned that Biden’s EV mandates will kill the Michigan auto industry.

Ultimately, automakers are realizing that Americans are not buying into the artificial hype of EVs. Perhaps this is part of the reason why. Here are nine instances of EVs bursting into flames this year alone.

1. An F-150 Lightning pickup, which was sitting in a holding lot, burst into flames early in the year, forcing Ford Motor Company to suspend production and issue what was described as “a stop-shipment of the vehicles to dealers.”

2. A Tesla Model Y caught fire over the summer on a residential street in Ilford, North London. The fire on the $60,000 vehicle was, indeed, described as spontaneous.

“There was a bit of a commotion and I went outside and it had caught on fire, completely. It looks like it’s self-combusted, it literally started a fire on its own,” one onlooker said. “It’s scary because I’ve actually got the exact same car, it’s slightly concerning that it could just catch fire, and a really strong fire.”

3. A 2023 Mercedes Benz EQE350+ EV caught fire in the garage of a home in Nocatee, Florida. According to reports, the car was not even charging when the incident occurred, and the fire resulted in $1 million in damage to the home.

4. A Tesla caught fire on I-140 near Wilmington, North Carolina, after running over a piece of metal in the roadway.

“A truck driver next to me opened up his window and was pointing frantically. So I pulled off into the breakdown lane. And when I got out you can see flames from underneath the car in the front,” the driver stated.

5. A Tesla vehicle crashed and caught fire, resulting in what was described as an “inferno,” in Spokane County, Washington.

“It was an odd fire because it went off like bottle rockets,” the resident of the farm where the crash occurred said. “The electric nature of the vehicle, specifically its battery cells, made the fire more difficult to control.”

6. A 2022 Tesla Model 3 struck debris in the road in New Jersey, resulting in a fire.

As Breitbart News reported, “Putting out the fire was very difficult for the Newark Fire Department, as the Model 3 kept smoking and flaming up, time and time again, after the fire was extinguished — unlike gasoline-powered vehicles.”

7. A multi-story carpark at London Luton airport partially collapsed after a large fire. The fire crew commander said “lots of electric vehicles potentially involved” in the early stages of the spread of the fire.

As Breitbart News reported:

The fire brigade has said they do not believe the blaze is suspicious and say it appears to have been started by a diesel car combusting, but a crew commander who responded to the blaze told the BBC the presence of many electric cars at the building may have been an early factor in the fire spreading. He is reported to have said there were “lots of electric vehicles potentially involved quite early on… The cars were parked very close, next to each other. So unfortunately that was probably the reason for the rapid fire spread”.

8. A Tesla spontaneously caught fire in a residential area of Plano, Texas, in November. According to the owner, weird noises were coming from the newly placed battery, and flames were shooting out of it.

9. Another Tesla burst into flames in an auto yard in Rancho Cordova, California. It had reportedly been sitting there for months.

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