AUSTIN (KXAN) — A crash in west Austin involving an electric car resulted in a fire at a gas station early Thursday morning.
Austin Fire Department tweeted around 2 a.m. that a Tesla crashed into the gas station in the 2600 block of Exposition Blvd. and then it caught fire. That’s in the Tarrytown area of west Austin near Westover Road, and the crash happened around 1:20 a.m.
An electric car crashed into a gas station in west Austin early Thursday morning. It took firefighters longer than usual to put the fire out because they had to monitor the car’s batteries. (KXAN photo/Andrew Choat) 
An electric car crashed into a gas station in west Austin early Thursday morning. It took firefighters longer than usual to put the fire out because they had to monitor the car’s batteries. (KXAN photo/Andrew Choat) 
An electric car crashed into a gas station in west Austin early Thursday morning. It took firefighters longer than usual to put the fire out because they had to monitor the car’s batteries. (KXAN photo/Andrew Choat)
AFD crews were able to get the fire under control but had to do some extra work to make sure the car’s lithium batteries were cool enough and wouldn’t reignite. AFD said to expect traffic delays in the area Thursday.
Batteries from Tesla cars have given firefighters trouble in the past when trying to extinguish fires. In Spring, a northern Houston suburb, a Tesla burned for hours after batteries kept reigniting following a crash. Two people died in that crash.
AFD said they are training firefighters on how to put out fires involving lithium batteries like the ones found in Tesla cars.
