Horrifying Video Goes Viral: Parked Car Bursts Into Flames

A horrifying video on Chinese social media went viral which showed a parked Tesla Model S car exploding. The video was widely shared on China's Twitter Weibo, where the parked EV emit smoke and burst into flames seconds later. A video purportedly of the aftermath showed a line of three cars completely destroyed.

According to NDTV, 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. "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.

A day after the incident, U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Inc on Monday said it has sent a team to investigate on the car exploding.

NDTV further states that, 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 approximately 10 times less likely to experience a fire than petrol-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 involving accidents.