A Tesla Semi truck crashed into trees and caught fire on the side of a highway in California, causing the closure of I-80 in both directions for almost 16 hours. The first fire crews arrived at the scene of the accident after 3:00 local time.
Firefighters poured thousands of liters of water on the Tesla Semi to cool its lithium-ion battery pack to a controlled target temperature of about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 degrees Celsius) while waiting for its cells to burn out. During the fire, toxic fumes were released into the air, which led to the closure of I-80 in both directions.
At around 4 p.m., the batteries were finally cooled to a safer temperature, allowing rescue teams to begin working on transporting the remains of the Semi to Tesla’s gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. After 19:00, traffic on the highway was fully restored.
The California Highway Patrol reported that the driver of the Semi first left the scene of the accident on his own and was later taken to the hospital. Authorities are now investigating the cause of the accident, considering whether the driver fell asleep at the wheel.
The Semi was driven by Tesla, which often uses a Class 8 commercial truck to transport newly manufactured electric vehicle batteries from its Gigafactory to its car manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. In this case, the truck was not pulling a trailer, so it appears that only Semi’s own batteries were burning.
Electric trucks use a battery pack that is about 10 times the size of the battery used in the Tesla Model S sedan.
«This battery will emit much more toxic gases. It will burn much longer. In general, it’s much harder to put out»,” said Dylan Hu, an electric vehicle industry analyst.