Batteries blamed for Tesla fire

This story originally appeared in the Wednesday, April 12, print edition of the Daily Post. For all of the local news, pick up the Post in the mornings at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations. Our competition does.

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

A fire at a Tesla dealership in Palo Alto was caused by a lithium-ion battery that overheated, according to a fire investigation report released by the city yesterday (Tuesday, April 11).

The fire damaged 19 batteries and caused more than $300,000 in damage in the early morning of Aug. 7 at 4180 El Camino Real.

Two firefighters inhaled toxic fumes, and one suffered a knee injury, according to the investigation report.

Investigator Tamara Jasso said that a cell in one of the batteries failed, causing “thermal runaway,” which is when a battery heats itself uncontrollably.

One battery heated another 11 batteries that were in the same wooden crate, and seven other batteries that were a few feet away.

A Ford truck and a portable office were also burned.

Tesla told Jasso that the company had “a lack of diagnostic information on the pack before the thermal event,” according to her report.