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Tesla Suddenly Catches Fire in Hong Kong Parking Lot, Times Says

Tesla Model S was parked in San Po Kong Plaza for half an hour on May 12 before the battery started to smoke and flames appeared.

Tesla Suddenly Catches Fire in Hong Kong Parking Lot, Times Says
A Tesla Inc. Model S electric vehicle sits charging at a Destination Charging facility in the Kowloon Bay district of Hong Kong, China. (Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- A Tesla Inc. electric vehicle suddenly caught fire in a Hong Kong parking lot, the Hong Kong Economic Times said, less than a month after a similar case was reported in Shanghai.

The Tesla Model S had been been parked in San Po Kong Plaza for about half an hour on May 12 before the battery started emit to smoke and flames appeared, according to the report. There were sounds of explosions and firefighters took about 45 minutes to extinguish the blaze, the Economic Times reported.

It was the first fire of its kind in the city, the report said.

Tesla didn’t have a comment on the matter, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for the company said. Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department is investigating the May 12 fire, a representative said, declining to identify the make of the car.

Last month, videos on social media showed a car bearing a Tesla logo in Shanghai emitting smoke before bursting into flames, while rival NIO Inc. said one of its ES8 electric vehicles caught fire in the north-west Chinese city of Xi’an while being repaired. Tesla and NIO said they were looking into the reports.

The incidents have fueled concern over the safety of EVs in China. In 2018, China recorded at least 40 fire-related incidents involving new-energy vehicles, a fleet that includes pure battery electric, hybrid plug-in and fuel-cell vehicles, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation.

--With assistance from Yan Zhang and Jinshan Hong.

To contact the reporters on this story: Angus Whitley in Sydney at awhitley1@bloomberg.net;Zoe Ma in Sydney at zma13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Ville Heiskanen

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.