When a couple of Teslas burst into flames a few years ago, every newspaper on the planet wrote about it – “Teslas catch fire”, or “Teslas burn.” Tesla Motors’ stock even plummeted those days, and people’s worst fears apparently came to life: batteries can catch fire.
Of course batteries can catch fire – even gasoline can. But at the time, the fact that gasoline-powered cars are way more prone to fires didn’t matter to many.
A recent piece of news published on a French site, quoted by Cleantechnica, shows how a Mercedes Benz caught fire after it collided with a Tesla Model S. Well, neither of the cars looked well after that, but the Mercedes actually burst into flames.
So now who’s to blame? Elon Musk & co, for designing the sturdiest car possible, batteries, for not catching fire either, or Mercedes? I think none. Things do get into flames when they contain energy, either chemically or otherwise. Heck, even flour can explode in certain circumstances.
Tesla, on the other hand, has made their cars safer since 2013, when those fires occurred. They installed a thicker battery plate and it’s pretty hard, next to impossible to roll over a Tesla these days, or make it catch fire. While you can pucture a gas tank at any time, make a spark and… boom!
