A new video has emerged of a fire incident involving a Ford F-150 Lightning, as obtained by CNBC. The incident occurred earlier this year.
CNBC obtained the previously unreleased footage from the Dearborn Police Department through Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. The over-2-hours video shows smoke rising from three unoccupied Lightning pickup trucks parked closely in a Ford-owned lot in Dearborn. The EVs were being charged when the fire started.
According to CNBC’s report, there is no official record of how long the fires lasted. However, EV fires usually take hours to extinguish because of the nature of the combustible materials. The lithium-ion batteries in the trucks can be volatile and hard to contain when they catch fire.
EV fires have received more attention in the press as more people buy battery-powered vehicles.
The fire incident forced Ford to halt the Lightning production for five weeks. The company also recalled 18 pickup trucks. Ford later traced the problem to battery cells coming from one of its suppliers, SK On.
The video contains audio from the responding police officers, describing the vehicles as engulfed in flames. They were also concerned about the EVs blowing up. Other first responders wondered if water could be used to put out the fire.
“Together with SK On, we confirmed the root causes and swiftly implemented quality actions,” Ford said in a statement. “The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center has been back up and running since March 13 and is back to full production and shipping vehicles to customers.”
