Hyundai Kona Electric Catches Fire & Explodes While Parked Inside A Garage

The Hyundai Kona Electric is an electric SUV that made its debut in 2018. It went on sale in the North American market earlier this year. Just a few months into its sale, it has run into this major problem.

This particular vehicle was bought in March 2019 and just four months later, it has been burnt to a crisp. According to a report by CBC, The vehicle was owned by a man named Piero Cosentino. The report quotes that he was preparing dinner when the explosion happened and the fire alarms went off.

When he went to the basement, he saw thick black smoke coming out from the garage door and that is when he ran outside the house. Once outside the house, Piero Cosentino saw the extent of damage that had been caused by the Hyundai Kona Electric's blast.

The force of the explosion was such that the garage door had been blown across the street, which could easily be a distance of about 30 feet. The tiled roof of the garage too had been blown off.

The family has been advised not to move back in as the building structure could have been damaged due to the explosion. The garage structure was later demolished completely as it could hurt somebody by collapsing at a later stage.

The condition of the Hyundai Kona too is horrendous as proven by the image captured by Radio Canada / Mathieu Daniel Wagner. The entire front-end of the car has been blown right off. The battery pack is not to be seen, the electric motor and drivetrain is burnt, plastics have meted, and the glass is shattered.

However, what makes us curious is that the front tyres and wheels are unscathed whereas the rear wheels and tyres have been damaged beyond recognition. Going by the images, it is clear that the rear-end of the car had a sustained fire for a long time while the front-end had a quick but powerful blast.

It is unclear at the moment if the fire caused the blast or vice versa. Piero Cosentino claimed that the Hyundai Kona Electric wasn't charging at the time of the incident, and it wasn't even plugged-in.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained as the fire department's spokesperson said there wasn't anything inside the garage that could have sparked the fire. Therefore shifting all focus directly onto the electric vehicle.

It is not the first time that an electric car has caught fire on its own even when parked. It was only in April 2019 that a Tesla Model S caught fire while it was parked in a basement and engulfed the other two cars surrounding parked next to it.

There are several other examples of electric vehicles catching fire automatically. However, an electric vehicle exploding is a first. Firefighters are investigating the incident and we have no doubt that Hyundai too will join in the investigation.

The Hyundai Kona Electric was launched in the Indian market on 09 July, 2019 at a price of Rs 25.30 lakh. It is powered by a 100kW motor with a maximum power output of 131bhp and a peak torque output of 395Nm. The SUV came with fast-charging capabilities and had great performance too.

Adding to all this was the claimed range of 452 kilometres on one fully-charged battery. The result was, Hyundai clocked 120 bookings and over 10,000 test drive requests within just 10 days since its launch.

Thoughts On Hyundai Kona Electric Exploding While Parked In Home-Garage

It is clear that the Hyundai Kona is set for a successful run in the Indian market. It shattered all apprehensions that people had about electric vehicles including range, charging time, safety, etc.

However, this incident just might cause people to question the safety aspect of the car. Hyundai will definitely look into the issue and give all electric variants a thorough check-up. This might also lead to a lawsuit against Hyundai. It remains to be seen how things will turn out.