Tesla truck fire in California took 190,000 litres of water, and an aircraft to extinguish

The remains of the Tesla electric truck being removed from the scene on interstate 80 in California after it crashed. It took 190,000 litres of water to put out the blaze. Screenshot / KCRA 3

United States firefighters used 190,000 litres of water to extinguish a blaze involving an electric Tesla semi-truck this month following a crash, a government agency said.

Besides water to cool the vehicle’s batteries, California firefighters also “used an aircraft to apply fire retardant to the immediate area as a precautionary measure”, said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in a statement released on Friday.

The crash involving the Tesla semi took place early on August 19 as the vehicle was travelling near Emigrant Gap in California, the board said.

The semi-truck operated by a Tesla employee was heading from Livermore, California, to a Tesla facility in Sparks, Nevada.

What remained of the the Tesla electric truck after it burned for hours following a crash on a California interstate. Screenshot / KCRA 3

The vehicle veered off the road while navigating a curve and struck a tree, before going down a slope to rest against several trees, the report added.

The driver was not injured.

But “the vehicle’s lithium-ion electric battery system ignited after the roadway departure, resulting in a post-crash fire”, the board said.

It took nearly 190,000 litres to extinguish the flames and cool the vehicle’s batteries, the agency said.

California firefighters also mobilised an aircraft to drop retardant around the crash site.

California suffers from numerous forest fires every summer, which are destructive and sometimes fatal.

A view of a Tesla semi-truck at an expo in San Francisco on August 24. Photo / Anadolu via Getty Images

The motorway was closed for about 15 hours so firefighters could ensure the batteries were “at a safe temperature for vehicle recovery operations”, the NTSB said.

This was also to prevent the spread of the fire to surrounding forested areas.

When Tesla announced its second quarter results recently, chief executive Elon Musk indicated that large-scale production of semis was still planned to start by the end of 2025.

The first such vehicles have been delivered to a few selected customers such as PepsiCo since 2022.

– AFP