Tata Nexon EV Catches Fire In Mumbai, None Injured

It’s the first known fire incident involving a Tata Nexon EV which has been on sale for over two years

• Videos have surfaced online of a Nexon EV with smoke and fire coming from its underbody.

• Fire-fighters arrived at the scene and seem to have doused the fire with sufficient haste.

• Tata is investigating the incident to figure out what caused the fire.

• It’s the first of more than 30,000 Nexon EVs on the road to suffer a fire accident.

• No person(s) has been reported to have been injured in the incident.

A Tata Nexon EV recently caught fire in Mumbai and the incident was caught on camera by spectators who shared it online. These videos clearly show that the battery pack, which is housed under the flooring and between the axles, is on fire.

We can see police officers and firemen responding to the incident with haste, using water hoses from fire trucks, trying to contain the fire from the underside of the Nexon EV. It is also notable that there seem to be multiple mini flashes of fire which is common in EV fires as individual battery cells happen to catch fire and this appears like micro-explosions. 

It seems that the officials were able to douse the fire quickly enough. In a post-fire picture circulating online, we can see that most of the vehicle body is intact with the most visible scorch marks being on the sides only. At the time of publishing this news, no person was reported to have been injured in the incident.

Tata Motors is already looking into the matter to ascertain what caused the EV to catch fire. The carmaker’s official statement is as follows:

“A detailed investigation is currently being conducted to ascertain the facts of the recent isolated thermal incident that is doing the rounds on social media. We will share a detailed response after our complete investigation. We remain committed to the safety of our vehicles and their users. This is a first incident after more than 30,000 EVs have cumulatively covered over 100 million km across the country in nearly 4 years.”

While some would be quick to jump to conclusions regarding the cause of the incident, we await a detailed analysis from Tata. Many would blame overcharging or batteries overheating due to India’s summer heat that can easily hit 50-degrees Celsius on a clear day to be the catalysts for such accidents. However, there are far more complex factors in play that can lead the battery of an electric car to catch fire.

The Lithium-ion cells that make a battery pack operate on the basis of chemical reactions that generate energy. The regular Nexon EV comes with a 30.2kWh high-voltage Lithium ion battery pack. There are numerous components in the battery pack to control and manage those chemical reactions and the heat generated in creating electricity, just like any electrical device using a Lithium ion battery. All such components will need to be checked to ascertain what led to the battery catching fire.

It is also worth noting that BEVs across the globe have suffered from rare incidents of battery fires. Most notably, there were 13 cases of the Hyundai Kona Electric catching fire in South Korea in late 2020. That’s 13 units out of tens of thousands that were sold over a period of more than a year.

Once Tata is able to recognise the cause of the problem, the carmaker is expected to assess if other units might be at risk of a similar outcome and carry out the necessary changes via recalls.

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