Electric car owners in Nanjing are on the alert after news came of such a vehicle spontaneously exploding in the underground car park of a local residential community. The vehicle was almost completely destroyed and many cars parked nearby suffered not inconsiderable damage.
The explosion occurred on 30 November at 05:39 in the car park under the Yanlord Jiangwancheng residential community at 198 Leshan Lu in Nanjing’s Jianye District.
Firefighters were on the scene in just 15 minutes and were quickly able to put out the resulting fire. And assess the damage to what little was left of the car.
With not a window left intact, the force of the explosion had twisted the vehicle’s doors and bonnet to a considerable degree. There was also virtually nothing left of one of the car’s rear doors.
The Yangtze Evening News is reporting the car was likely plugged in at the time of the explosion. However, at this point there is no confirmation that it was the result of the the New Energy Vehicle’s battery.
The Nanjinger spoke to Sandy Lennox, Headmaster at St Johns College School Nanjing, who drives an electric car himself, although not a Volvo. “I have never been worried about spontaneous explosion of batteries as they seem so rare, but it is slightly concerning with such an established brand as Volvo”, he said.
The Volvo XC90 is a plug-in hybrid SUV, which also means that its battery has little in the way of capacity. The 11.6-kWh battery pack will only get the car about 30 kilometres in all-electric mode.
At this time it is therefore likely that the explosion was not the result of the small battery, especially given the fact that firefights were able to put down the blaze very quickly.
That all said, however, the increased occurrences of spontaneous combustion among electric cars do have many voicing their concern. In fact, the Insurance Association of China has recently proposed that owners of New Energy Vehicles be required to take out additional coverage against spontaneous fires, reports AutoEvolution.
Batteries for the Volvo XC90 are produced by LG Chem and Contemporary Amperex, reports The Paper. The latter has stated to media it was not one of their batteries that was involved in the Nanjing fire.
Thankfully there were no casualties as a result of the accident, likely on account that it occurred so early in the morning. Volvo are cooperating with Nanjing’s fire department authorities while the cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
