Man left ‘speechless’ and grateful to be alive after Tesla shakes before catching fire

A California man is grateful to be alive after his Tesla caught fire.

Bishal Malla of the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove was running errands last weekend when his electric vehicle began to shake.

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“I’m just so lucky to be alive,” Malla told KCRA.

Malla said he thought the shaking might have been caused by a flat tire, saying, “The moment that I opened the door, I saw smoke coming from the bottom.”

Malla then noticed the smoke quickly turning into flames.

“I was about to go home, take the family and the kids, and go to a party,” he said.

Malla said he was grateful his children were not in the car, recognizing the outcome could have been different given the extra time that would have been taken to get them out.

“I’m just speechless right now,” he added.

Cosumnes Fire Department Battalion Chief Robert Kasparian said EV batteries build up an “enormous amount of heat.” Kasparian noted the EV batteries’ locations make putting out the fires challenging.

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“A lot of times, fire departments will just let the vehicle burn until it’s down to the point where they can actually access the batteries and put water or firefighting foam on the batteries themselves,” Kasparian said.

Despite the difficulty of putting out electric vehicle fires, a recent AutoInsuranceEZ study found that hybrid and gas vehicles are more likely to catch fire than EVs, citing 3,474 fires per 100,000 in hybrid sales, compared to 1,529 for gas vehicles and 25 for EVs.