A recent Tesla crash test conducted by global insurance firm Axa that ended with the electric vehicle (EV) catching fire was staged — reports National Public Radio.
The Paris-based company recorded the supposed crash and its aftermath, posting the video to YouTube.
Axa claimed the test demonstrated how the batteries that power electric cars are prone to erupting into flames in the event of an accident. You can check out the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRc0Hw2S80A
However, Axa later admitted that the Tesla in the video didn’t even have a battery in the first place. The company had removed the EV’s battery prior to the test and also confessed to using pyrotechnics to ignite the fire seen in the video.
According to Axa, the battery was removed to protect spectators during the demonstration. The fire was put out “under controlled conditions,” the firm said. As part of the test, the Tesla crashed into an obstacle and landed upside down on its roof, with the front half of the car catching fire shortly thereafter.
“In addition, Crash Test with a Tesla vehicle did not cause the type of damage to the undercarriage that would be likely to spark a battery fire as the images would appear to suggest,” Axa revealed.
The company said that it regretted that its crash test gave a “false impression” of Tesla and EVs in general and created “confusion.”
Axa conducts crash tests to raise issues of road safety, and its own data indicates that battery-powered vehicles are less likely to catch fire than combustion-engine alternatives. That said, EV batteries can ignite or explode and experts concur that battery fires are harder to put out.
General Motors Co.’s Chevy Bolt infamously had a manufacturing defect that put the EV at increased risk of battery fires. As a result, GM halted Bolt production and recalled every unit ever made.
