According to local media reports, a Tesla Model 3 sedan exploded in a Chinese parking garage this week.
The car was blown up on Tuesday evening in an underground parking garage in a residential area in Shanghai, where Tesla opened a factory in late 2019, several Chinese media reported.
Tesla told reporters no one was injured in the crash, but the flames from the explosion had ripped out the car’s interior and appeared to char his body, according to published photos of the scene.
The electric car manufacturer told local media that the incident was likely caused by a collision to the bottom of the car that damaged the battery.
The vehicle apparently caught fire after the bottom hit a manhole cover when the driver drove into the garage, Shanghai’s Xinmin Evening News reported, citing the complex’s real estate office.
Tesla said it is working with the local fire department to help the owner claim insurance, according to Yicai Global, a financial news outlet.
It’s unclear whether the Model 3 vehicle was made at Tesla’s Shanghai factory or imported from the US. The company did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on Thursday morning.
The explosion came amid concerns about the safety of Tesla’s vehicles in China, which is becoming an increasingly important market for the Elon Musk-led carmaker.
The state-run Economic Information Daily published an article earlier this month criticizing Tesla’s driver assistance systems and its cars’ retractable door handles. That followed Tesla’s October recall of about 30,000 vehicles in China due to suspension issues, which the company reportedly said were caused by “driver abuse” rather than a malfunction.
Tesla also sent a team to China in 2019 to investigate the explosion of one of its Model S sedans.
Tesla shares were up about 0.6 percent in premarket trading Thursday at $ 856 as of 7:21 a.m.