Four vehicles were damaged last week after a fire sparked in the electric vehicle (EV) View commercial office building parking lot, according to the Mountain View Fire Department (MVFD).
Damages to the vehicles and electrical charging station total $275,000, according to a MVFD press release.
Emergency dispatchers received a call at 4:52 p.m. May 1 reporting smoke coming from an EV parking lot in the 1300 block of Shorebird Way in northern Mountain View.
Units arrived at the scene at 4:59 p.m. and found a fire originating from a Jeep Wrangler EV, according to the press release.Â
The flames had spread to three other vehicles – two Teslas and a Honda – but firefighters were able to prevent the fire’s spread with a fire-attack hose line.
Fire officials determined the source of the fire was the Wrangler’s lithium-ion battery charging system, according to the press release.
A study conducted by auto insurance website AutoinsuranceEZ found that hybrid vehicles were the most prone to vehicle fires, based on compiled 2020 data including National Transportation Safety Board vehicle fire data and fires based on vehicle sales data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Per 100,000 sales, there were 3,474 hybrid, 1,529.9 gasoline, and 25.1 electric vehicle fires, according to the study. Of total vehicle fires (not per 100,000 sales), 199,533 gasoline, 16,051 hybrid, and 52 electric vehicles all caught fire.
