A Tesla crash video shows a stolen electric car after it has been torn in half and caught on fire. Amazingly, the thief survived the initial 100 MPH impact and is now in the hospital.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , a Tesla Model S fire video showed the roadster electric vehicle bursting into flames on the road. Videos like these went viral quickly, prompting the response from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who claimed that the Tesla battery design actually made their cars safer in comparison to gasoline-based cars if both vehicles were in the same situation. But how could this be? We explained in our previous articles:
“If the armored underplating of the Tesla model S is penetrated and sparks a chemical fire in some of the Tesla battery pack’s modules, the internal firewalls protect the other modules from the heat. Internal vents prevent the fire from spreading through all 16 modules by pushing flames away from the vehicle, which also protects the passengers. If a car accident was so extreme that all of the Tesla battery modules were penetrated, it could be argued that the passengers would probably be more harmed by the impact, not the resulting fire. A similar accident in a gasoline car might have caused the entire gas tank to explode at once.”
Some of these safety features might explain why no one was killed during the Tesla crash. According to CBS , police responded to reports that a man was attempting to steal a vehicle and when they arrived a high speed pursuit occurred when a black Tesla took off at 100 MPH. To put this chase into perspective, some reports have claimed the Tesla Model S can do 0 to 60 MPH in 3.9 seconds, which puts its acceleration in the realm of supercars like the recently announced Jaguar convertible .
When the thief lost control at an intersection, he ran into other cars which contained multiple other people. The Tesla crash actually ejected the driver and another passenger, and even though the vehicle was split in half, no one was immediately killed. The conditions of the injured are not currently known, although one person is said to be in critical condition.
Still, witness Eric Martinez say the Tesla fire was still pretty crazy:
“There were fires after that that broke out. I saw … like 25 firefighters standing around the white car with the Jaws of Life. We originally thought it was fireworks, everybody thought it was fireworks that were just exploding.”
What do you think about the Tesla crash video? Do you think the safety features of these electric vehicles are good enough?
