As Lucid is trying to ramp up production of its first EV, the company has had to battle battery fire incidents twice in the span of four months.
The fire department in Arizona has had to respond to fire incidents twice at Lucid’s Casa Grande production facility. Both times, the fire had to do with batteries, according to the fire department’s records that Business Insider got access to.
The first fire occurred on March 14th at 10:30 pm, which involved a thermal runaway at the EV maker’s powertrain facility. The fire department reported the call was upgraded to a “hazardous situation” while en route, arriving to find that a battery had been dumped into a water tank to cool it down. One person reportedly got burnt and was taken for treatment for injuries and headaches.
The second incident was on June 19th at 10 pm, and the fire department again arrived at Lucid’s factory to find “an active car battery fire” partially submerged in water outside the factory. Four employees received treatment for possibly inhaling smoke, while another one visited the local medical center.
Lucid evacuated the factory during both incidents, according to sources that did not want their identities revealed.
The fire incidents are a setback as Lucid continues to increase the production of its flagship luxury EV, the Air. The company started making deliveries in September last year.
Lucid targets production of between 12,000 and 14,000 units this year. It is working on a more affordable EV to be released after its Gravity SUV.
EV production and fire incidents are not strangers. Canoo, another EV startup, has recorded two battery-related fires while Rivian has dealt with at least three fires at its facility in Normal, Illinois.
