Mercedes-Benz EQ Electric Explodes In Two Months

Something seems to be up with electric vehicles from Mercedes-Benz. For the second time in as many months, a Mercedes EQ model has exploded, this time alongside a family’s home in Spratton, Northants, in the United Kingdom, reports the New York Post. The resulting blaze set the garage on fire, with smoke damage to the front bedroom above. The last instance of this happening was in August, when a Mercedes EQE Sedan exploded in a parking garage in Korea, sending 23 people to hospital. Thankfully, this instance – involving an EQA crossover – only caused material damage.
 

What We Know So Far
Scott and Georgina Bayliss tell the New York Post they had been watching television around 9:15 PM on September 30 when they suddenly heard “a popping sound.” The family thought that it might have been the sound of fireworks, but then “there was a very loud bang like a bomb going off.” The family shared surveillance footage of the incident with the publication, and it makes for dramatic watching. Naturally, garden hoses had almost no effect, and the blaze burned hotter until the fire department arrived.
 
The family’s observation of various pieces of footage is that “you can see some vapor at the rear of the car, and then it exploded.” Mr. Bayliss also said that the initial investigator noted it was difficult to determine the cause of the failure, but that he feels like it must have been a thermal runaway fire. The most concerning issue is that the car, with 28,000 miles on the odometer, was reportedly parked and left off for some 10 hours before the incident.
 
What Mercedes Says About The Incident
The Bayliss family said that they’ve been offered a loan car, but their comments indicate that Mercedes may have lost a customer. Mr. Bayliss feels that the magnitude of the issue hasn’t been taken into account, adding, “You’d think they’d be more engaged,” claiming that “no one senior” has reached out. CarBuzz reached out to Mercedes-Benz U.K. and U.S. representatives for comment and received the following statement:
 
“We were sorry to learn of the incident. After receiving contact from Mr. Bayliss, we took it very seriously and immediately contacted his vehicle insurer to arrange to investigate and examine the vehicle. Until then, please understand that we cannot comment further. In the meantime, we have offered Mr. Bayliss a loan car as a gesture of goodwill.”
 
No Concern For American Mercedes EV Owners
In Korea, Mercedes used batteries from Chinese company Farasis Energy, while local market rivals had claimed only to have used batteries from CATL or Samsung SDI. With Chinese batteries at fault for the first incident, and the second involving the smaller EQA (which uses different batteries and is not sold in America), U.S. customers have nothing to worry about.