An insurance company wanted to prove that Tesla batteries catch on fire and performed a test without the battery. Yes, you read that right. Axa Insurance put on a show marketed as a crash test and admitted to 24auto.de that there were no batteries in the tested videos.
you can’t make this up:
insurer @AXA tries demonstrating the 🔥 dangers of EVs.
a Tesla Model S goes up in flames – but the battery had been removed beforehand.
how did it burn then? 🤔
why, the car was set ablaze by pyrotechnics, of course 🧨🤷♂️— stekkerauto 🚗⚡️ (@stekkerauto) August 30, 2022
According to a statement by the Axa, EVs can pose a risk of fire due to the batteries. However, Axa chose to perform these tests ‘proving’ it by not including the batteries. Instead, they set the car on fire in a different way.
Axa told 24auto.de that it would have been too dangerous to demonstrate an actual battery fire so they removed the battery cells before the tests. This same reasoning applied to their decision to ignite the fire of a Tesla Model S with pyrotechnics.
“For safety reasons, it was not possible to ignite a real battery fire at an event with around 500 people, which is why a fire with pyrotechnics was staged.”
“We wanted to use the fire the accident researchers: on the one hand point out the danger of a cell fire, which can result from damage to the underside of the electric car, and on the other hand point out the problems with fires in electric vehicles in general. Fortunately, fires are very rare in electric cars as well as in conventional combustion engines. In the rare case of a battery fire, so-called thermal runaways can.”
Michael Pfäffli, head of accident research at AXA Switzerland, said that the high torque found in most EVs could result in unwanted, jerky acceleration and loss of control. During the crash test, it was assumed that the driver would lose control of the Tesla which would then roll over on a traffic island.
After the crash, Axa noted that the passenger side was intact but the underbody was badly damaged. Axa researchers also noted that the drive battery was very well protected but could still pose a fire hazard.
The photo provided by Axa and the videos made available to the media show the EV on fire. pic.twitter.com/E2NTqCnSZ1
— stekkerauto 🚗⚡️ (@stekkerauto) August 30, 2022
I have so many questions…
How can you claim that something catches on fire and then do a test without that object? And honestly, anything will catch on fire if you set it on fire. Except for water unless the water is contaminated with something flammable.
In my opinion, this so-called test combined with the claim that fires are rare with conventional combustible engines is just FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
Another question. How is it legal for any company to openly test a vehicle in this manner on public roads? If they were worried about safety, they shouldn’t be testing and setting cars on fire in places where innocent people could get hurt. Did they have a permit or some type of agency approval for testing?
Tesla owners get criticized for using Full Self-Driving Beta but it’s okay for insurance companies to stage car fires on public roads?
One last question. Would Axa have come out and admitted that this whole thing was staged if 24auto.de hadn’t asked them? They presented the photo to the media which would have harmed Tesla’s reputation. So the question has to be asked, what were Axa’s real motives here?
Note: Johnna is a Tesla shareholder and supports its mission.
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