Photo: News4JAX video screenshot | collage
A Floridian who received a Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ loaner while her car was getting serviced lost her home after the vehicle erupted in flames inside the garage. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but the car wreckage doesn't look like the Li-ion battery was the cause. The electric sedan was recently subject to a recall related to the Battery Management System.
While statistics show electric vehicles catch fire far less often than their ICE counterparts, EV fires occasionally occur. And because electric cars are still novel and divisive, EV fires generate a lot of emotion. There are roughly 180,000 vehicle fires recorded each year in the US. Still, unless they caused a catastrophe, no one is interested in reading about them. If one electric vehicle catches fire, it's all over the news, even more so if it's a Tesla.
Tesla fans also complained that negative news involving other car brands rarely mentions the car's make and model. In contrast, a Tesla is guaranteed to make the headline. This is not why I specify the car brand and model in the headline. I do it because this is the first known fire of the Mercedes-Benz EQE Sedan, which only started sales in the US last fall. According to News4JAX in Jacksonville, Florida, the car was a loaner Mercedes-Benz offered to a Floridian while her car was getting serviced.
The EQE Sedan was sitting in the garage for about 22 hours and wasn't plugged in when it erupted in flames. The homeowners said they heard "a hiss and a pop." When they entered the garage, it was all filled with smoke. The car quickly engulfed in flames and "exploded" after that, but thankfully nobody was hurt. The downside is that the house appears to have been seriously affected and might need to be rebuilt.
The fire department is still investigating the cause of the fire. However, judging by the looks of the charred car body, it doesn't appear to be a battery fire. A typical Li-Ion battery generates high temperatures when it burns, often consuming a large section of the car directly on top of the battery pack. It's not unusual to find the front of the EV almost intact and the rest of the vehicle missing. The EQE involved in the Florida fire still has most of its metal parts in place, which is consistent with a regular fire, probably caused by a non-battery-related electrical problem.
The model was recently involved in a recall because the monitoring function of the high-voltage battery might be impaired over time. In that case, the warning alerting the driver of a battery malfunction would not activate in the event of a fault. Still, only two vehicles were recalled, as the rest of the EQE 350 sedans sold in the US already featured an updated Battery Management System. I have no idea whether the car that caught fire was one of them, although chances are slim, considering Mercedes Benz sold over 3,300 units in the US through June 2023.
Tesla fans also complained that negative news involving other car brands rarely mentions the car's make and model. In contrast, a Tesla is guaranteed to make the headline. This is not why I specify the car brand and model in the headline. I do it because this is the first known fire of the Mercedes-Benz EQE Sedan, which only started sales in the US last fall. According to News4JAX in Jacksonville, Florida, the car was a loaner Mercedes-Benz offered to a Floridian while her car was getting serviced.
The EQE Sedan was sitting in the garage for about 22 hours and wasn't plugged in when it erupted in flames. The homeowners said they heard "a hiss and a pop." When they entered the garage, it was all filled with smoke. The car quickly engulfed in flames and "exploded" after that, but thankfully nobody was hurt. The downside is that the house appears to have been seriously affected and might need to be rebuilt.
The fire department is still investigating the cause of the fire. However, judging by the looks of the charred car body, it doesn't appear to be a battery fire. A typical Li-Ion battery generates high temperatures when it burns, often consuming a large section of the car directly on top of the battery pack. It's not unusual to find the front of the EV almost intact and the rest of the vehicle missing. The EQE involved in the Florida fire still has most of its metal parts in place, which is consistent with a regular fire, probably caused by a non-battery-related electrical problem.
The model was recently involved in a recall because the monitoring function of the high-voltage battery might be impaired over time. In that case, the warning alerting the driver of a battery malfunction would not activate in the event of a fault. Still, only two vehicles were recalled, as the rest of the EQE 350 sedans sold in the US already featured an updated Battery Management System. I have no idea whether the car that caught fire was one of them, although chances are slim, considering Mercedes Benz sold over 3,300 units in the US through June 2023.
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