Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk talks about Tesla's new battery swapping program in Hawthorne, California June 20, 2013.
The electric car company Tesla has confirmed that one of its Model S vehicles caught fire on Wednesday, the third such fire in the last six weeks.
The company said the fire, which occurred in Smyma, Tenn., was the result of an accident and was not a spontaneous combustion, Reuters reports. The driver, who was not injured, was able to pull off the road and get out of the car. The incident occurred just four miles from a Nissan plant where the Leaf electric car, a Tesla competitor, is built.
This fire comes after a two similar events in October, when a puncture in the car’s battery caused the vehicle to catch fire.
After the first event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk defended the Model S safety record, writing in a blog post that “for consumers concerned about fire risk, there should be absolutely zero doubt that it is safer to power a car with a battery.”
[Reuters]