Tesla Motor Co's stock price continued to slump on Thursday, after the battery of a Model S sedan in Washington state burst into flames.
Tesla reported that the car caught on fire after the motorist drove over a "large metallic object" that produced serious damages to the front of the vehicle.
"The fire was caused by the direct impact of a large metallic object to one of the 16 modules within the Model S battery pack," Tesla spokesperson Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean said.
After photos and video of the burning car started circulating online Wednesday, the company suffered a six percent decline. Tesla's shares fell 6.4 during early trading on Thursday, Reuters reported, while analysts confirmed that news of the burning vehicle would create issues for the Silicon Valley-based electric carmaker's image.
"Tesla's a very controversial stock and this will give fodder for the bears," R.W. Baird analyst Ben Kallo told Reuters. "They'll say this is going to slow down sales."
Officials at the car company said both the makeup of the car's battery and the design of the vehicle helped retain the flames, giving the motorist enough time to get out of the car safely.
"Because each muddle within the battery pack is, by design, isolated by fire barriers to limit any potential damage, the fire in the battery pack was contained to a small section in the front of the vehicle," Jarvis-Shean told Reuters.
According to the incident report lodged by the Kent Fire Department in Washington, firefighters managed to put out the flames shortly after they arrived on the scene, but the blaze reignited under the car, and the water used in attempts to calm the flames did no good. Firefighters then used a dry chemical extinguisher to put out most of the fire, Reuters reported. Officials on the scene said that the fire looked like it started in the battery pack on the front of the car.
"[Firefighters] had to puncture multiple holes into the pack to apply water to the burning material in the battery," the report read.
Using a high-lift jack, the firefighters hoisted the car up to gain access to the bottom of the vehicle. They used a circular saw to cut a hole and remove the battery.
Officials from Panasonic Corp - the company that equips Tesla Model S vehicles with batteries - did not comment when reached by Reuters.
