A Tesla Model 3 sedan blew up this week in a Chinese parking lot, according to local media reports.
The car exploded on Tuesday night in an underground parking lot in a residential community in Shanghai, where Tesla opened a factory in late 2019, several Chinese media reported.
Tesla told reporters that no one was injured in the accident, but the flames from the explosion destroyed the car’s interior and appeared to char his body, according to published photos of the scene.
The electric car maker told local media that the incident was probably caused by an impact on the underside of the car that damaged the battery.
The vehicle apparently caught fire after its underside hit a manhole cover when the driver entered the garage, Xinmin Evening News reported, citing the complex’s owned office.
Tesla said it is cooperating with the local fire department and helping the owner claim insurance, according to Yicai Global, a financial news agency.
It is unclear whether the Model 3 vehicle was made at Tesla’s Shanghai plant or imported from the USA. The company did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on Thursday morning.
The explosion came amid concerns about the safety of Tesla vehicles in China, which is an increasingly important market for the business of the automaker led by Elon Musk.
The state newspaper Economic Information Daily published an article earlier this month criticizing Tesla’s driver assistance technology and retractable door handles on its cars. This followed Tesla’s October recall of some 30,000 vehicles in China because of suspension problems, which the company said were caused by “driver abuse” rather than a defect.
Tesla also sent a team to China in 2019 to investigate reports of the explosion of one of its Model S sedans.
Tesla’s shares rose about 0.6 percent in Thursday’s pre-market to $ 856 from 7:21 am