- one of the first porsche taycans on the market caught fire in florida on february 16.
- a porsche spokesperson told c/d it is aware of the incident and the automaker is ready to assist if necessary.
- while ev fires make the news, plenty of gas vehicles catch fire every day.
we don't know a lot, but we do know that one of the first porsche taycan evs to make its way into an owner's hands has caught fire in a garage. a video shows the destruction to both the vehicle and the structure it was housed in. fortunately, no one was injured in the blaze.
porsche spokesperson calvin kim told car and driver: "we were made aware of an incident at a residential address where one of our cars was parked overnight late on the 16th of february. the formal investigation has begun and we remain ready to assist if called upon. we are relieved to hear that no one was harmed in this incident." kim also emphasized, "it's too early to speculate on the cause until the investigation has concluded."
as the news spread across the internet, it has become fodder for those who are wary of electric vehicles. sadly, it has also become a talking point for a small but vocal portion of tesla drivers who are using the incident to become armchair fire investigators and decry the lack of coverage by the press. they feel tesla has been treated unfairly by the press for ongoing coverage of fires in those vehicles. the reality is that cars of all kinds can occasionally catch on fire.
it's fair to point out that every time a tesla catches on fire, an overabundance of attention is focused on the incident. the issue is that tesla is the number-one seller of evs, and there are more new teslas on the road than any other electric vehicle. it's a numbers game.
it's also important to note that vehicle fires are not new. gasoline-powered cars catch fire. one caught fire near my house just a few weeks ago. i have friends who have lost their cars to a fire that started alongside the road. until we build cars out of asbestos that run on dreams and best intentions, vehicle fires will happen.
what makes these incidents newsworthy is that electric vehicles are relatively new. these blazes may be due to bad engineering, user error, or a whole host of other conditions that would have set any vehicle ablaze. what’s important is that the incidents are investigated and the information is used to inform the public and help automakers (new and old) build a better car and keep everyone safe.
it's clearly not an ev-only incident. hyundai, chevy, and honda have all recently issued recalls based on the potential of a vehicle fire.
fires won't go away anytime soon, but we hope trash talk around them does.