--- title: "Tesla Model X Crashes Into Gas Station, Explodes" description: "An underaged driver has been charge with driving while intoxicated after crashing a Tesla Model X into a traffic pole and then a gas station in west Austin." date: "2021-08-13" modified: "2021-08-13" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-crashes-gas-station-explodes" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "fire fighting" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Tesla Model X Crashes Into Gas Station, Explodes ![An underaged driver has been charge with driving while intoxicated after crashing a Tesla Model X into a traffic pole and then a gas station in west Austin.]() *\Image: Image via Pxfuel/Futurism\* ## Fill 'Er Up An underage driver has been charged with driving while intoxicated after crashing a Tesla Model X [into a traffic pole and then a pump at a gas station]() in west Austin, Texas on Thursday. Fortunately, nobody got hurt, including the driver, who managed to jump out of the vehicle before it burst into flames. The hair-raising incident didn't ignite the station's gasoline supply, fortunately — though, ironically, fires raged from the vehicle's batteries for hours, in yet another incident of local departments struggling to put out an electric vehicle fire. ## Water Nation According [to *ABC13*](), the local fire department had to use 40 times the amount of water to put out the Model X fire that would have been required to put out a conventional fuel-powered car fire. "I mean the car obviously runs completely off battery power," local fire chief Thayer Smith told the station."There's a battery pack underneath the frame. So that's another part that makes it hard to get to." "Plus, once it's burning, they are extremely hard to put out," he added. "They'll reignite... as soon as you stop flowing water and it looks like it's out, it'll just reignite." "Normally a car fire you can put out with 500 to 1,000 gallons of water, but Tesla's may take up to 30,000-40,000 gallons of water, maybe even more, to extinguish the battery pack once it starts burning and that was the case here," Smith [told *CBS Austin*](). ## Battery Fire It's not just electric vehicles catching fire. The news comes two weeks after [a fire broke out at a Tesla battery power station]() in Australia. It took 150 firefighters four days to put out the blaze, [according to *Insider*](). There have also been ominous reports of charging electric vehicles [randomly catching fire inside people's homes](), although the risk compared to gas-powered cars remains unclear. Regardless, the incidents go to show that the potential for disaster is there — and that fire departments are still learning to deal with battery conflagrations. **READ MORE:**[Juvenile driver charged after Austin crash leaves Tesla engulfed in flames]() \[ABC13\] **More on battery fires:***[Electric Cars Have One Problem: They Keep Lighting People's Homes]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()