While the causes of the Hyundai Kona Electric’s explosion in Canada are yet unknown, the owner claims it wasn’t put on charging socket during the incident
Lithium is the least dense of all metals and has density about half that of water. Its light weightiness and high efficiency meant Li is the main metal used in batteries. The flammable properties mostly result in the high capacity battery packs being very difficult to put off when up in flames. One such incident happened in Île-Bizard, Montreal in Canada.
The vehicle has turned out to be the electrified Hyundai Kona that has been on sale in international markets for several months without causing any issues. A guy named Piero Cosentino purchased his Kona EV in the third month of 2019. This past Saturday, July 26, he heard an explosive sound and the fire alarm went off when he was on for lunch.
He immediately turned off the breaker as his first instinct was to go out and run outside so he did not have to open the doors and feed the fire. Using a garden hose, he began trying to put off the fire before the firefighters arrive.
The damage caused by the explosion was so much that it set his garage door to the other side of the door and portion of the roof was severely affected. It took about thirty men to bring the fire under control after a long fight. Louise Desrosiers, a Division Chief of Montreal Fire Department, said he found no possible cause of the fire.
The all-electric vehicle had nothing around it to set off the explosion, as the cause of the explosion is unknown. However, the investigation is underway as no definitive problem has been found yet. The owner claims that his Kona Electric was not charging and was not connected to the charger during the explosion.
The property damage caused by the explosion resulted in Cosentino and his neighbour not getting into their homes until a structural analysis is done. We have seen several reports of modern electric vehicles getting exploded out of nowhere but the Kona Electric has always stayed away from it and it will be interesting to learn about what caused the fire accident when the investigation concludes.
The Kona Electric went on sale in India just a while ago for Rs. 25.3 lakh (ex-showroom) and it has ARAI-certified driving range of 452 km on a single charge using 39.2 kW Lithium-ion battery. The first electric SUV in India is offered with 8 years or up to 1,60,000 km battery warranty.