A Tesla Model S that was parked in an underground garage in Shanghai caught fire for no apparent reason a couple of months ago. CCTV footage showed the car was just sitting pretty until it exploded into flames. Tesla said that it was looking into the matter and has now revealed what caused the Model S to catch fire.
Tesla has said that it was a single battery module which caused the Model S to catch fire in Shanghai. The company says that it has also revised its vehicle settings to ensure that there’s additional protection for batteries.
The company revealed through its official Weibo account that a joint investigation team had looked into the matter. It conducted an investigation and also analyzed the battery, vehicle history, software, and manufacturing data to find out exactly what went wrong. No system defect was revealed in the investigation while initial findings showed that the incident was caused by a single battery module that was located at the front of the car. Modules are a group of battery cells joined together.
To further protect the battery in its cars after what it has understood from this incident, Tesla has sent out an over-the-air update for the Model S and Model X which revises the charge and thermal management settings to improve protection for the battery and battery longevity.