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First fatal Tesla Cybertruck crash kills Texas man after EV veered off-road for 'unknown reason'- as cops probe potential safety faults
A raging battery fire has incinerated a Tesla Cybertruck owner alive just off the east Texas coast, in what's believed to be the first fatal crash for the new electric vehicle.
Police reports showed that the fatal incident occurred just outside of Houston at 1:45am local time on Monday.
State officials reported that the trendy, but troubled EV burst into flames after crashing into a concrete drainage channel or culvert, leaving the owner's body and truck's license plates and VIN unrecognizable among the char.
In addition to these local authorities, the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also investigating what caused the deadly incident.
A raging battery fire has incinerated a Tesla Cybertruck owner alive just off the west Texas coast (above), in what's believed to be the first fatal crash for the new electric vehicle
The episode is just one of many harrowing accounts of safety defects with the Cybertruck, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk once touted as 'apocalypse proof,' despite the EV requiring no less than four recalls since it debuted in late November of 2023.
While headed west on Cedar Parkway in the Baytown area, the now incinerated Cybertruck veered off the roadway for what authorities described to local CBS affiliate KHOU 11 as 'an unknown reason.'
Stalwart fans of the Tesla EV at the Cybertruck Owners Club online forum pushed back on the coverage, with one saying 'They gonna cover the hundreds of car fires per day in the US or just Tesla?'
'1:45am?' another user chimed in. 'That's all I need to know.'
But scientists and automotive safety experts have drawn attention to the unique thermal might of lithium-ion batteries when engulfed in the flames of a runaway chemical reaction.
'Battery-powered vehicles account for a small share of car fires, but controlling EV fires is difficult,' as Clemson University physicist Dr Apparao Rao and his colleagues explained in a recent essay on the issue.
A typical runaway battery fire in an EV burns at a temperature of roughly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius) — half the temperature on the surface of the sun.
Most metals, including platinum, titanium and the Cybertruck's own stainless steel, melt at temperatures below 5,000F.
According to Dr Rao, the amount of water needed by emergency responded to ultimately put out an EV battery fire of this scope is 20,000 gallons of water: 10-times more than what's required to quench the standard combustion-engine automotive fire.
A gas-powered vehicle fire, he and his fellow researchers wrote for The Conversation, only burns at up to 1,500F (815C).
Texas state authorities said that the Cybertruck driver could not be identified due to severe burns amid these metal-liquefying temperatures that rendered his over $81,000 electric truck a burnt husk.
While the federal National Transportation Safety Bureau has previously taken charge of investigating Tesla crashes, the bureau told local news that it had not yet been contacted for assistance with this case.
But its sister agency, NHTSA, which focuses more on faults within vehicles themselves, told reporters that it is seeking further information from Tesla related to flaws in the Cybertruck that may have led to this early Monday death.
Texas state safety officials (pictured) reported that the trendy, but troubled EV burst into flames after crashing into a concrete drainage channel or culvert - rendering the owner's body and even his truck's license plates and its VIN unrecognizable among the char
In addition to these local authorities, the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also investigating what caused the deadly incident (above)
A typical runaway battery fire in an EV burns at a temperature of roughly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius) - half the temperature of the surface of the sun. Most metals, including platinum, titanium and the Cybertruck's own stainless steel, melt below 5,000 F
In the past year, Musk has pitched his company's Cybertruck as a durable and even Mars-ready space exploration vehicle.
The billionaire tech mogul has put the EV to the test in several eye-catching demonstrations, including shots from a Tommy gun, a 45- and nine-millimeter pistol.
Late in 2023, shortly after the Cybertruck's launch, the Tesla CEO challenged comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan to attempt to puncture the EV with an arrow.
'Can I shoot it with an arrow? I bet I can get in there,' Rogan said during the 2,054th episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
Musk replied with a laugh: 'Yeah, it will be fine.' (Ultimately, the tip of the arrow smashed against the Cybertruck, failing to penetrate.)
Nevertheless, the unusually designed and angular EV has been criticized of leaning into design aesthetics over safety, including sharp-edged trunks and doors that can severe human fingers and other appendages.
A Tesla Cybertruck parked next to several other vehicles
This past April, Tesla temporarily halted all Cybertruck deliveries citing reports that the vehicle's accelerator pedal could easily become stuck at full speed, a discovery that led to the recall of nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks.
But as automotive reporter David Tracy told local news, battery-powered electric vehicles are not more prone to catching fire than conventional gas-powered cars.
'From a flammability standpoint, EVs are not a significantly, more likely type of vehicle to catch fire,' Tracy said.
Auto insurance providers with AutoinsuranceEZ, working with public NTSB data, in fact, have found that all-electric vehicles are the least likely automobiles to catch fire in the first place, followed by gas-powered vehicles.
Hybrid gas-electric vehicles, their study found, were the most likely to catch fire.
'My sincerest condolences to the family of whoever was in that vehicle,' Tracy added.