EV Showroom Catches Fire In China, Tenth Blaze Since 2021

Written by Sebastien Bell on May 23, 2024. Posted in Current News

A massive fire broke out overnight at a BYD showroom on May 16, leaving little more than the bare framing of the building, the skeletons of a handful of vehicles, and soot

Fortunately, no one was killed in the blaze.

Videos shared online show large clouds of smoke billowing in the skies above the showroom, giving the entire surrounding area an orange hue as the flames reflected off the rising plumes.

In the background, loud bangs and pops can be heard.

The fire started at 12:32 a.m. in Qingkou in Fujian Province, and seven fire trucks were dispatched to the scene, report HK01.

Eyewitnesses say the flames were too intense for firefighters to approach when they first arrived, but the blaze had more or less been extinguished by 1:18 a.m.

In a statement, BYD acknowledged the incident, writing that “it was initially determined that the fire location was located in the office or roof of the second floor. It cannot be ruled out that the fire was caused by a short circuit or aging of the wiring,” as translated by Google.

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Although early reports indicated that an EV in the showroom was on fire, BYD states that it checked the “background data” and found that there were no abnormalities within the batteries of the vehicles in the store, which “ruled out the possibility of the vehicles causing the problem.”

The Chinese automaker stated that it will ‘actively cooperate’ with all relevant authorities as they investigate the source of the fire.

Despite BYD’s confidence in the safety of its vehicles, consumers appear to be less certain.

According to a report from NTDTV, this is the 10th fire at one of the automaker’s stores since October 2021, excluding factory incidents.

The report also references a few fire incidents involving flatbed trucks transporting New Energy Vehicle models from BYD, including one in April 2024 and another on May 1, 2024.

We have contacted BYD regarding these previous fires and will update this story upon receiving their response. Store fires including factories:

1. In October 2021, a fire broke out in a BYD 4S store in Hainan.
2. In April 2022, a fire broke out in a BYD 4S store in Shaoguan, Guangdong.
3. In May 2022, a fire broke out in the after-sales workshop of a BYD 4S store in Hengshui, Hebei Province.
4. On July 9, 2022, a fire broke out in a BYD 4S store in Xingning District, Nanning City, Guangxi.
5. On November 18, 2022, a fire broke out in BYD’s Phase 3 F6 factory building in Daya Bay West District.
6. On December 8, 2022, a BYD 4S store caught fire near Gongye Road in Erqi District, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province.
7. On June 1, 2023, a fire broke out in the material area of Workshop No. 1 at BYD’s Pangguan production base.
8. In May 2023, a fire broke out in a BYD 4S store in Jiangmen, Guangdong.
9. In December 2023, a fire broke out in a BYD 4S store in Tiexi District, Shenyang, Liaoning.
10. On December 18, 2023, a fire broke out in the BYD 4S store in Xinmaoyuan, Chengdu, Sichuan.
11. On December 30, 2023, a fire broke out in the exhibition hall of a BYD 4S store in Changhua, Binzhou, Shandong.

Regardless of the cause, a total of seven vehicles were destroyed in this latest fire, and several privately owned vehicles (at the location for repairs) were also damaged in the incident.

In all, reports suggest that the blaze caused as much as five million yuan (around USD $692,600 at current exchange rates) in damages.

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