News – A British family was terrified the moment they heard a strong explosion in their home, which turned out to be caused by the burning of their electric car while charging it overnight. It was a Mercedes four-wheel drive car, worth approximately $63,000.
Surveillance cameras installed in front of the house documented the moment the car, parked two meters from the front door of the home of British businessman Scott Baylis (47 years old) and his wife Georgina, exploded in the Spratton neighborhood of Northamptonshire.
A video clip, published by the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, showed the moment smoke was emitted from the car before the explosion, accompanied by slight popping sounds, which family members thought at first glance were fireworks.
But soon the flames flashed through the left rear side of the car, then the explosion occurred and the fire spread through the entire car. Immediately, Scott tried to put out the fire with a regular water hose, while another man removed a second car that was parked in the driveway, near the burning car.
At the end of the video, Scott appeared with his son James and their neighbor continuing to extinguish the fire, but due to the intensity of the fire, the flames spread to the garage, resulting in damage to the front bedroom of the two-story house.
** Investigations are ongoing
Initial investigations suggested that the fire was caused by an uncontrollable increase in battery temperature, even by cooling it.
The car’s body was severely damaged, which constituted a major obstacle to the ability of forensic experts to determine the cause of the explosion, according to a police statement.
Scott revealed that Mercedes had offered him a used car temporarily, until the investigations were completed, but he expressed his extreme fear of driving an electric Mercedes again.
For his part, a spokesman for Mercedes-Benz expressed the company’s regret for the accident, and confirmed that the company had begun investigations to find out the cause of the car’s fire and compensate its owner.
