An electric car exploded into a massive fire ball while sitting on the driveway of a family home, which also caught fire, according to reports.
Emergency fire services were called to a home in Bromborough, Wirral, UK, at around 10 pm after receiving reports that a car was on fire.
The blaze from the electric car was so big the family’s home also caught fire.
According to a report from The Liverpool Echo, the fire blackened the two-story family home.
A man told the outlet that after speaking to the owners of the electric car, they said they believed the blaze was caused by a “malfunctioning electric car battery.”
“I was in bed and heard this popping noise. It sounded like fireworks going off,” the man said.
“I went outside with my mum, and there were bright lights with a car up in flames over the road,” he continued.
“The owner was in the house when it happened but got out,” the man said.
“She told me this morning that the car was only a month old with a thousand miles on the clock and the car battery malfunctioned,” he noted.
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Another family home destroyed by fire after their 'electric car' reportedly exploded while sitting in their driveway.
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Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service rushed to a family home in Bromborough, Wirral, at around 10 pm. on Saturday night pic.twitter.com/DC5JOR7VLS
One woman said:
“I heard tyres popping and people came out to see what was going on. Someone started screaming, and people rushed out to help.”
“I saw it happen, and it looked like the fire was coming from where they charged the car. The whole thing was up in flames by the end,” the woman said.
“It was so scary, and my little girl was screaming because she thought something had happened to our house,” she recalled.
A spokesperson for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said:
“Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) attended an incident on Cooks Acre, Bromborough, on the night of Saturday, 23 September.
Crews were alerted at 9:51 pm and were on scene at 9:57 pm. Three fire engines attended. On arrival, crews found a two-storey detached house with the garage well alight. A car on the drive was also well alight.
Two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the property under rapid deployment to fight the fire. The fire was extinguished by 10.10 pm.
MFRS carried out home fire safety checks on the properties on either side of the property and left the scene at 12.21 am.”
In July, Fire brigades in the UK said they are being forced to double the crews sent to blazes involving the technology.
While single fire engines are typically sent to car fires with petrol or diesel engines, fire chiefs are now sending two units for electric vehicles with lithium-ion batteries.
Energy stored in the batteries causes massive heat in a process known as ‘thermal runaway,’ which produces ‘rocket-like’ flames.
Essex Fire area manager Jim Palmer said: “The dangers posed by electric vehicle fires do not end with putting out the flames.”
“There have been many cases of electric vehicle fires reigniting sometimes even days after being extinguished.”
READ: Unsold Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Their Thousands on Dealer Lots
The EV battery can also be considered a bomb resting quietly to go off.
That’s ANY cellphone battery you know….
It’s a good thing people weren’t in the car. When are people going to realize the world isn’t ready for total electric anything. Stop with all the idiotic Virtue signaling. How much pollution did this one car create when it blew up! Now times that by the hundreds that are doing the same thing. Please world, Pull your head out and get some fresh air!
Too bad it caught fire so quickly. In 2 more days it would have been fully charged!
LOL!