The Nexon EV is India's best-selling electric vehicle, selling approximately 2,500 to 3,000 EVs each month, with no reports of Nexon EVs catching fire till recently. Tata Nexon electric SUV caught fire in Mumbai's Vasai district this week and the video related to the incident has gone viral on social media.
According to a reader, the car's owner charged his Nexon EV with a standard slow charger placed at his office. He noticed clicky sounds from the car after driving around 5 kilometres in sluggish traffic towards his residence. Soon after, warning lights flashed on the instrument cluster, prompting him to pull over to the side and exit.
We can see firefighters sprinkling water on the burning Nexon EV in a video uploaded by a Twitter user, KamalJoshi108. Even though water cannot douse a burning electric automobile, it can help keep the fire from spreading to the surrounding area. Individual cells are susceptible to a chain reaction and will burn individually or in tiny clusters, therefore EV fires take longer to extinguish.
Tata made an official tweet about the incident, which states, “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 the first incident after more than 30,000 EVs have cumulatively covered over 100 million km across the country in nearly 4 years.”
It is unknown what caused Nexon electric to catch fire, battery overheating caused by overcharging or quick charging is one cause of EV fires. Battery chemistry, design, and cooling are all important factors in EV fires. A million such permutations and combinations could have resulted in the fire hazard that occurred with the Nexon EV in question. We'll have to wait for Tata Motors' inquiry report to find out what transpired.