The owner of a Fiat 500e experienced a terrible incident with his electric vehicle, which literally exploded while parked in his home garage. The flames and explosion also caused damage to part of the house. The incident took place in Milan, Italy.
Fiat 500e catches fire while not charging: tragedy narrowly avoided in Milan
The owner of the electric city car told local media that, while he was getting ready to leave home, a strong explosion shook the building. It was around 8 in the morning when the car, which the man would have used in minutes to visit his father, was engulfed in flames. “We’re alive by a matter of minutes,” the owner recounted.
The car was not charging at the time, but it had been charged the evening before the incident. Therefore, potential issues with the batteries during the car’s charging process are not ruled out. Firefighters, who are investigating the incident, took a couple of hours to extinguish the flames, managing to remove the car from the garage to prevent further damage to the house. The flames destroyed the basement and other rooms on the upper floor, which are now uninhabitable. The owner’s statements were understandably harsh: “They’re selling us bombs, unfortunately“.
In recent days, Stellantis published sales data for the Fiat 500e in the United States, but the figures are not encouraging. Since the beginning of 2024, when it made its debut in this market, it has sold just over 400 units. The main reasons for these poor sales are likely related to the excessively high price, which is close to that of the Tesla Model 3, which thanks to incentives costs just over $34,000, compared to the starting price of $32,500 for the Italian city car.
This data has led to the suspension of production at the Stellantis Mirafiori plant, which will be closed until November 1st. Meanwhile, Fiat continues to advertise the vehicle, and in the latest commercial, it is compared to the Tesla Cybertruck.