Elon Musk Employee Involved in Tesla Fire — Battery Temperature Hit 1,000 Degrees

Key Takeaways

• In August 2024, a Tesla Semi was involved in an accident that caused the truck’s battery to catch fire.
• The blaze reached temperatures of 1,000 degrees and required 50,000 gallons of water to put out.
• A Tesla employee was driving the vehicle between the company’s facilities in California and Nevada.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has published details  of an investigation into a fatal Tesla Semi crash that occurred last month in Placer County, California. 

While the investigation is ongoing, the agency confirmed that the truck was operated by a Tesla employee traveling to a Sparks, Nevada facility.

Accident Overview

While the NTSB is still investigating the cause of the crash, the preliminary report highlights the incident’s catastrophic nature.

The truck came off the road while navigating a right-hand turn. At that point, “the vehicle’s lithium-ion electric battery system ignited after the roadway departure, resulting in a postcrash fire,” the agency said in the statement. 

After the truck’s battery caught fire, emergency responders used around 50,000 gallons of water to control the blaze. AP News previously reported  that the flames reached a temperature of 1,000 degrees. 

Tesla Employee Behind the Wheel

While a string of American retailers, including Walmart and Costco, plan to incorporate Tesla Semi into their fleets, only a handful of companies currently operate the electric haulage vehicles.

However, Tesla executive Lars Moravy revealed in an interview  in 2023 that the company has its own fleet of close to 100 Semi trucks that travel between its factories in Fremont, California, and Sparks, Nevada. The NTSB report confirms that one of these trucks was involved in the recent incident.

Battery Safety Concerns

The Tesla Semi crash highlights the dangers of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, especially the large ones required to power haulage trucks.

In a previous investigation  into the issue, the NTSB studied four electric vehicle crashes that resulted in fires, two involving Tesla Model S cars and two involving Model Xs. The report also looked at a fire related to a crash test performed on a Chevrolet Volt and international examples involving vehicles manufactured by Mitsubishi and BMW.

The study concluded that battery fires pose a significant risk to emergency workers and called for manufacturers to be more involved in efforts to put them out, such as providing vehicle-specific guidance to firefighters.

During the latest incident, the NTSB said Tesla deployed a technical expert to the scene to assess high-voltage hazards and fire safety.

About the Author

James Morales

Although his background is in crypto and FinTech news, these days, James likes to roam across CCN’s editorial breadth, focusing mostly on digital technology. Having always been fascinated by the latest innovations, he uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.

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