Mercedes electric car catches fire while parked, nearly sets house ablaze

A fire has destroyed a £50,000 Mercedes electric car, equivalent to $65,000 USD (Photo: SWNS).

The owner stated that the Mercedes EQA had been parked in front of their house for about 10 hours, just a few steps away from their home. When the whole family was watching TV, their son heard crackling noises, initially thought to be fireworks, but then there was a loud explosion like a bomb, and they found the car on fire.

They tried to use a water hose to control the flames while moving another car parked in front of the house. A neighbor came to help extinguish the fire.

The fire brigade rushed to the scene but everyone's efforts only helped prevent the fire from spreading, saving the house but not the car.

The incident occurred around 9 pm on September 30, but the video has only recently been released. Scott and Georgina Bayliss, the car owners, said the police told them that if they had been just a few minutes late, the fire could have spread to the house.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. The car was purchased in 2022 and was not plugged in at the time of the fire. According to the odometer, the car had driven about 45,000 kilometers.

Mercedes stated that as soon as they were informed of the incident, they contacted the owner's insurance company to inspect the car and conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the fire. They also offered to provide a temporary replacement car, but it was declined.

The car owner couple stated that they have contacted Mercedes and requested an explanation. Scott said it seems like Mercedes did not respond promptly to the incident.

"They didn't do anything other than say they would investigate, while the incident put my family at risk and caused damage to our house," Scott said.

Regarding Mercedes offering a loan car, he said, "Honestly, I don't want to sit in any Mercedes again."

Clearly, the family was very disappointed and upset to lose a valuable car and almost have their house burnt down.

The Mercedes car was burned, but fortunately, no one was injured and the house was only damaged on the outside, with no fire inside (Photo: SWNS).

According to Scott, the fire occurred when his family was still awake so they could detect it in time, but a similar incident could easily happen at night while everyone is asleep, which would be very dangerous.

Scott believes it was a battery fire, caused by a thermal runaway phenomenon, releasing energy uncontrollably.

Lithium-ion battery fires are caused by chemical reactions, the movement of positive and negative ions inside the battery pack, so they can burn without oxygen and cannot be extinguished but only isolated to prevent the fire from spreading, waiting for the chemical reaction to end.

There have been cases worldwide where electric cars were brought to waste disposal yards after the fire was put out, only to reignite three weeks later. This is due to the thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries, which can ignite and explode without direct contact with a flame.

The Mercedes EQA model has never been recalled in the UK for fire hazards but has been previously recalled for steering system issues and missing user manual printing.