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BYD Qin Pro Catches Fire While Parked Underground in Beijing

On the evening of November 22, a man took his family to have dinner in Beijing. He left the car charging. When he got back, apparently, the driver heard a strange noise, took his baby out of the vehicle, and saw his BYD Qin Pro catch fire.
BYD Qin Pro Spontaneously Catches Fire in Beijing 7 photos
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BYD Qin Pro Spontaneously Catches Fire in BeijingBYD Qin Pro Spontaneously Catches Fire in BeijingBYD Qin Pro Owner Shares Images of It Spontaneously Catching Fire in BeijingBYD Qin Pro Spontaneously Catches Fire in YunchengBYD Qin Pro Spontaneously Catches Fire in YunchengBYD Qin Pro Spontaneously Catches Fire in Yantai
The description of the situation is incomplete, but it was all the owner shared on Chinese social media. One example is that the Qin Pro has two versions: DM (plug-in hybrid) and EV. The affected vehicle seems to be the EV, but it is hard to determine that based solely on the pictures taken by the owner.

If you check what is under the hood, there is just an empty space there, as if this vehicle had a frunk. It doesn’t: the Qin Pro either has a motor (in the PHEV’s case) or electronic components there, possibly the inverter. The absence of anything implies that whatever was there just melted down.

Apart from what we already mentioned that the BYD driver said, he also mentioned he would probably have to look for a lawyer and that he never thought he would experience “the explosion of an electric car in person.”

Firefighters managed to control the fire. Fortunately, no one was hurt by the incident, and the car was not as damaged as other fires involving battery packs. Economic Observer got in touch with BYD and was told that the vehicle involved in the blaze was sold in early 2019.

BYD also denied that there was an explosion and said it is investigating the situation. The Chinese carmaker was also fast to deny this vehicle used the Blade Battery. The first vehicle to adopt it was the BYD Han, launched after the Qin Pro. The cells this vehicle uses are ternary batteries, more specifically BYD NCM 622 units. Yes, BYD makes its own cells.

Although that shows how verticalized the company is, it also leaves no one to blame but BYD if a battery defect caused the fire. To make matters worse, this is not the first blaze involving the Qin Pro. TWGreatDaily.com reports three other situations: in Shenzhen in May 2020 and Yantai and Yuncheng in October 2020.

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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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