It was reported earlier this week that a Tesla Model S had caught fire in Hong Kong for no apparent reason. It just burst into flames while the car was parked in the parking area of an apartment complex. Tesla has now responded to these reports by releasing a new battery software update for both the Model S sedan and the Model X crossover.
The Hong Kong incident happened merely three weeks after a similar incident in Shanghai. There was even video of the Model S, which was also parked in a garage, catching fire. Tesla did send out a team to Shanghai in order to investigate the matter and that investigation is still ongoing.
Tesla isn’t suggesting that there’s a problem here that needs to be addressed. It maintains that its cars are “10 times less likely to experience a fire than a gas car,” but it has released this software update out of “an abundance of caution.”
“We are revising charge and thermal management settings on Model S and Model X vehicles via an over-the-air software update that will begin rolling out today, to help further protect the battery and improve battery longevity,” the company said.
The changes that this software update brings will most likely improve the efficiency with which the car manages each battery cell’s temperature and level of charge. This could help reduce the possibility of overcharging and thus prevent the lithium-ion battery packs from catching fire.
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