An electrified BMW i8 sports car caught fire earlier this week in Breda, Netherlands, where the fire brigade chose to submerge the vehicle completely into a large water container, so as to make sure the flames are extinguished.
Before dropping the car into the container, firefighters dispersed the larger flames separately. However, since the i8 features lots of electronics and flammable components, they simply couldn’t take any chances, so they had a large container of water delivered.
Toxic hazard
After the car was lifted out and back onto the road, emergency services needed to make sure that the water used was discharged in a safe manner, since it now contained all kinds of acids and toxic substances, as reported by BN DeStem.
While this i8 wasn’t a fully electric vehicle, these types of extreme measures are apparently necessary when dealing with electric motors and lithium-ion batteries. Thankfully, there weren’t any reported injuries as the car was quickly taken out into the street from inside a local BMW dealership once the fire was spotted.
On a related note, we can’t help but think back to an old BMW recall notice from 2014, with regards to possible fire risks involving the i8. According to the NHTSA, that issue involved “a bolt used to attach and secure the vehicle’s fuel tank to the vehicle chassis,” which may not have received proper welding during the manufacturing process and “could cause a fuel leak.”
At this point however we don’t know why this particular i8 caught fire.
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