Statistically speaking, your electric vehicle is much less likely to catch fire than a gas-powered car, but when EVs do go up in smoke it’s a much tougher blaze for firefighters to tackle. The challenge of fighting an EV fire is much harder when the car that’s burning is inside, which led one team of firefighters to try and wheel a smoldering Audi E-Tron GT outside to fight the fire.
An Audi E-Tron GT was in an Indiana dealer for servicing this weekend. However, the car ended up leaving the shop in worse condition than it arrived after a fire broke out on the German EV, reports CarScoops.
When the fire broke out, smoke filled the shop and the alarms soon started blaring. This brought the Carmel Fire Department rushing to the scene, where they took a novel approach to containing the EV fire.
In a Facebook post from the fire service, Carmel FD explained that their technique for combating the EV fire included working to contain the fire as best as possible, before moving the EV outside to fully extinguish the blaze. As the department explained in the post:
The first in crews were met with heavy smoke conditions throughout the entire maintenance area. After balancing the alarm, firefighters were able to mostly extinguish the EV car fire up on the lift, however, being lithium ion it’s nearly impossible to fully extinguish if there is thermal runaway. Through different trainings one tactic we have discussed and were able to put into action was to remove the vehicle from the structure.
Fire crews were able to lower the car onto wheel dollies, use manpower and a forklift to push the vehicle out of the maintenance area. This required plenty of firefighters and water to keep the fire in check. After loading the vehicle on a flatbed, a fire engine followed the flatbed and vehicle until it reached the salvage yard.
The cause of the Audi E-Tron GT’s fire remains unknown, but the car has previously faced recalls around the world relating to fire risks. In fact, almost 2,000 E-Tron GTs were recalled last year over fire risks with the battery packs.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the 2023 Audi E-Tron GT was recalled due to insufficient sealant on the battery packs. The defect could allow water into the battery cells, which could lead to arcing and, in some cases, spark fires in the powerpacks. To remedy the defect, Audi launched a program to replace defective batteries in impacted models.
If you are worried that your car might be affected by a recall, there are a few easy ways to check if it’s the case. First up, the NHTSA has a super handy app that you can use to see if your vehicle is impacted by a recall, or you can head to the regulator’s website and plug your VIN into its recall search tool.