Tesla's two spontaneous combustion incidents a week are suspected to be related to lithium battery combustion

On May 10, local time, a German driver crashed into the barrier while driving a Tesla ModelS on the highway in Ticino, southern Switzerland. The vehicle turned over and quickly caught fire. The driver was trapped in the car. dead. This is the second spontaneous combustion event that Tesla suffered after a week.

It is reported that the specific location of the car accident is near the city of Bellinzon in Ticino, Switzerland. The local fire brigade said that the cause of the fire may be "thermal runaway" after the lithium battery was strongly impacted. “Thermal runaway” is a positive energy feedback loop process: elevated temperatures cause the battery to heat up, and the battery heats up. The temperature rises in turn and the reaction heats up the battery. In short, it heats up in extreme environments and eventually ignites. The out of control process.

A Tesla press spokesman said: "We are deeply saddened by this accident. We are trying to determine the truth of the incident and cooperate fully with the local authorities. "

Tesla has had more than one serious accident recently.

On May 8, a ModelS hit the wall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, causing three teenagers in the car to die and one injury. Witnesses said the car sped past the road and then hit the wall, lost control and caught fire. Witnesses also said that they had tried to rescue the two boys in the car but gave up because the fire was too large. The survivors were thrown out of the car at the time of the accident and were sent to a local hospital after the incident. The cause of the fire in the accident was also considered to be related to lithium batteries.

On May 11, a Tesla Model S crashed into a fire engine at 60 miles per hour in Nanqiaodan, Utah. The driver toldspecial that she was using Tesla's "autopilot" function at the time of the accident., and pay attention to his mobile phone.

Tesla said that it has not received data on the incident vehicle, so it is not known what happened specifically, including whether the autopilot is on the start. The driver was injured in the accident and his right ankle was broken.

As early as January this year, a Tesla Model S also crashed into a fire engine. The driver also said that he was in a self-driving state. However, as of early May, the cause of the accident was still under investigation.

The Autopilot system does not handle this situation well: "Traffic detection cruise control technology can not detect all objects. It may not brake / slow down when encountering a stationary vehicle, especially when the speed exceeds 80 kilometers per hour, or the vehicle in front of you changes the path. When the front becomes a stationary vehicle or object. "

The worst accident at Tesla this year was when a man in California crashed into a freeway barrier in March with a Modelx, where the vehicle was "self-driving" and caught fire after the crash, killing the driver after being taken to the hospital.

It can be seen that the main problem with Tesla's accident was the error of the autopilot system and the burning of lithium batteries.

Most of the former are systemic defects. Tesla's auxiliary driving mode is called "Autopilot". However, the system can only achieve initial auxiliary driving. It is very easy to make mistakes in the face of sudden conditions, such as the inability to identify stationary vehicles.

The battery problem is the risk faced by all electric vehicles using triple-lithium batteries. Tesla's battery packs are designed and manufactured using a variety of precautions to prevent batteries from catching fire and exploding when they are hit. For example, use titanium alloy as a battery envelope. However, after being damaged, the three-element lithium battery itself is easily short-circuited inside the battery, which in turn causes the battery temperature to rise rapidly and eventually explodes. In three Tesla fires this year, vehicles were at faster speeds, and the impact was likely to destabilize the core.

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