A Porsche EV Reportedly Started the Fire on the Ship Felicity, VW Now Facing a Lawsuit

The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace ship burned for an entire week in the winter of 2022. She caught fire in February, approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the Azores, while sailing from Emden, Germany, to Rhode Island.

She capsized in early March and sank, with no chance of recovery whatsoever. It took with it thousands of cars. There were 3,965 Volkswagen Group cars bearing the Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley badges. On board the ship, there were also 15 Lamborghini Aventador Ultimae examples of a very limited run of 350 units.

The financial loss reportedly would total at least $155 million. However, over the two years that followed, Volkswagen managed to replace most of the vehicles that were on their way to their new owners.

All cars ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. However, the entire crew abandoned the ship and were taken back to land by the Portuguese Navy.

Now, the Volkswagen Group might end up in court again, this time for not securing the batteries of the EV it loaded on the massive cargo ship. The ship operator claims it was the battery of an electric Porsche that ignited and triggered the fire.

At the time, the only electric Porsche was the www.autoevolution.com/cars/porsche-taycan-2024.html#aeng_porsche-taycan-2024-4s-89-kwh-544-hpTaycan, which was equipped with a lithium-ion battery sporting a gross capacity of 79.2 kWh. Porsche lost 1,117 cars on the ship.

One of the suits was filed by half a dozen plaintiffs, including the operator of the ship, Mitsui OSK Lines, and one of the insurance companies of the vessel, Allianz. The allegations claim that Volkswagen failed to inform everyone of the risk and of the precautions necessary for the transportation of such vehicles, according to file courts.

The suit was filed in a court in Stuttgart, where the Porsche headquarters is. It is a case filed last summer and paused due to mediation talks planned for a second lawsuit, currently before a court in Brunswick, Germany. Both cases will resume if the parties do not reach a settlement.

Volkswagen confirmed the suits in a conversation with Automotive News but declined to comment on the situation.

There were also several used cars that were being shipped to the US: a 1977 Land Rover Santana, a 1996 Honda Prelude SiR, and a 2007 BMW 750i are the non-Volkswagen cars that burned and sank with the Felicity in February and March 2022.