Smoke from brand new EV caused by a damaged wire, company says
BYD Rever Thailand, the authorised distributor of BYD electric vehicles (EV) from China, said on Monday that a damaged wire connecting to the 12v battery caused a brand new ATTO 3 car to emit smoke while charging.
The incident occurred on Sunday (September 3) as the owner was charging the 1-million-baht vehicle he purchased a week earlier at a charging station in front of a shopping mall in Udon Thani province.
After seeing his car engulfed in smoke escaping from under the front hood, the owner called on the mall staffers to use a fire extinguisher on the vehicle and alerted the company.
“After thorough investigation, our engineers have found damage to a wire connecting to the 12-volt battery,” BYD Rever wrote on Facebook.
“The damage created the heat that burnt through the adjacent air-conditioning tube, causing the refrigerant to leak out,” the post went on to say. “The smoke was caused by the refrigerant reacting with the heat but there were no flames.”
The company added that no damage was found to other key components including the electricity control module and the battery itself.
“We will continue investigating all systems of the car to ensure that the smoke has no impact on them,” it said.
The company added once the investigation was complete it would replace the affected parts and the vehicle would be ready to use again.
BYD is the best-selling brand in Thailand’s electric vehicle market with over 11,000 units sold or 35.2% of the market share in the first six months of 2023.
NETA came in second place with nearly 6,000 units sold (18.8%) and Tesla in third with some 5,000 units sold (16.1%).
