The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said late on 21 August that it had launched an investigation into a Tesla Semi semi-trailer electric truck that crashed and caught fire on a California highway on 19 August, Reuters and Bloomberg reported. This is reportedly the first time the NTSB has investigated a Tesla electric heavy-duty truck.
At around 3 a.m. ground time on 19 August, a Tesla Semi semi-trailer electric truck went off the road and crashed on Interstate 80 near Emigrant Gap in northern California due to an engine fire. The accident caused no injuries, but the vehicle fire ignited nearby brush, causing the highway to be closed in both directions for several hours.
Tesla and the California Highway Patrol have not immediately responded to Reuters’ request for comment in response to these reports.
The NTSB has long been very concerned about electric vehicle fires involving lithium-ion batteries, in part because they pose a significant challenge to emergency responders.
Unlike fires in vehicles with internal combustion engines, electric vehicle fires tend to last longer and are more difficult to extinguish because they have a tendency to reignite, automotive experts say.
Tesla produces its Semi semi-trailer trucks at its factory near Reno, Nevada, USA, and uses the Class 8 trucks – specifically referred to in the U.S. Department of Transportation as those combinations of trucks, tractor-trailers, and their trailers that are more than 33,000 pounds – to transport auto parts to its auto plant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although the Tesla Semi was first unveiled back in November 2017, it is still in ‘pilot production’ nearly seven years later.