Homeowner questions EV safety after fire destroys her Nocatee home

Jennifer Ruotolo is busy packing up her life after bringing home a 2023 Mercedes Benz EQE350+. Her Nocatee home was destroyed in a fire sparked by the electric car. It was a loaner from Mercedes Benz while her personal car was getting serviced.

[JaguarRVP]

Mercedes Benz needs to rebuild her home

[MrGodspeed]

My Jaguar I-Pace EV was also sitting in the garage not charging when I heard pops coming from the garage. The garage was filled with smoke but I drove the car out anyway to the middle of the street. Then 10 minutes later it was engulfed in flames. You can Google the article I-Pace fire Florida. Even after a recall Jaguar never took responsibility.

[Chase_]

My 23yo diesel truck never even thought about catching fire

[markleadbeatter]

Imagine if this had happened whilst the homeowners were asleep, the consequences could have been even worse. You won’t get me going anywhere near one of those EV deathtraps

[KekeeBlack]

So, the dealership loaned her a car with a RECALL on it that burned her house? Her home insurance company is going to sue the absolute hell out of that dealership.

[denisemiller]

This happens more often than we are being told.

[bobbeazley]

And THIS IS THE FUTURE THE WORLD HAS TO LOOK FORWARD TO! I see living back in the 60’s is the best.

[kevinaine]

So much better for the environment..feeling safer day by day with such technological advances...😮😮

[alwynsmit]

Don't you just love how EVs are saving the planet

[artadams]

That's the greenest smoke I ever saw, thanks for doing your part to protect the environment.

[gigiherrington]

It's amazing how it didn't melt the car tires like it did in Lahaina Hawaii

[chrisrauschning]

A similar fire in a National park in Canada, at Lake Louise in a parkade. It took about a dozen vehicles.
Hardly covered in the media.

[NCF]

Be safe. Do not park your EV inside a garage, especially if it is attached to a house. Park your EV a safe distance from your house. EV fires burn at very high temperatures and are exceedingly difficult to extinguish.

[jeanwissinger]

Sue your car maker. They know these batteries are dangerous.

[peterburi]

The best way to minimize the chance of a fire is to get rid of your EV, period.

[kennethderrickson]

This happened to someone in my subdivision. Home wasn’t a total lost, but was severely damaged. Home was empty over 6 months. Horrible thing.

[GeoCalifornian]

Oil will always be the Mother’s milk of transportation.
/Battery cars are dangerous distractions… 😮

[sergionuno]

Everytime im going somewhere, i even avoid to park near a electric vehicle.

[narutofanz]

Can't imagine such loss in blink of an eye. Benz owes her big time!!!

[etdhsolar]

I worked in the hybrid fuel cell industry, and this happened to one of our test vehicles as well. Once the batteries reach 'point of critical mass' it has no other choice but to catch fire and burn extensively, it cannot be stopped at this point. Usually this happens when the batteries become over charged because the charge controller has failed. Once batteries reaches 'point of critical mass' there are no safety mechanisms in place to prevent this this from happening. I recommend everyone who owns an EV (no matter who the manufacturer is) to never park it inside your garage, always park them at least 5-10ft away from your home.