Unfortunately that might be a poor choice of words for the headline, but a recent incident showed a Model S P90D that caught fire while on a test drive. This happened during the “Electric Road Trip” that was supposed to be a European tour to help promote the car and the company. Tesla has had a lot going on this summer and thankfully all occupants of the vehicle were unharmed in the incident, but the fact is this isn’t the first Tesla Model S to catch fire in a way that makes us wonder if these cars are actually safe to drive.

The event occurred in Biarritz, France when the car was on its test drive when there was a sudden loud noise and a display on the dashboard indicated there was a problem with the charging system. Thankfully the Tesla employee in the car was able to act quickly and asked the driver to park the car and all three occupants left the vehicle which burst into flames only a moment later. The car was charred to the point of being destroyed even though firefighters were on the scene quickly and controlled the blaze.

Earlier in the year another Model S burnt up when it was plugged into a Supercharger. This incident occurred in Norway when an owner plugged his Model S into the Supercharger and left it to charge. Upon his return he found the vehicle and the charging station had caught fire and burned down. Thankfully firefighters were able to use a special chemical to put out the fire and nobody was injured in the process, but this incident along with the most recent one leaves the question of whether or not these vehicles are actually safe to drive.

As a young company that hasn’t been able to fully experience all that can happen on the roads some of the earlier models of the Model S were prone to set fire after severe impacts or when debris form the road was able to puncture the battery pack. Thankfully that led to Tesla adding a titanium shield under the car to protect the battery pack, but this recent event begs pause regarding the Tesla products. While the Model S has been able to be one of the most admired EVs ever built a sudden fire wouldn’t be positive for Tesla or the victims that could be trapped inside the vehicle.

As the company that has designed the technology, Tesla is currently working with authorities to figure out what caused this fire and the one that happened in Norway earlier in the year. To be fair, EVs have been in the new as catching fire at different times, but there’s no evidence to suggest this happens more often for EV models than it does for gasoline powered ones. Hopefully Tesla will solve the problem soon and have the fix needed to avoid fires in their current and future models as they look to become a mass producer of affordable EVs for the future.