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| - Misleading: Video shows burning diesel car in India, not EV in China
A video posted on X on Oct. 15 was shared widely alongside a Chinese-language claim that it shows an incident in China where “an electric vehicle spontaneously combusted, mysteriously drove on its own, and crashed into a crowd.”
The 50-second video shows a white SUV engulfed in flames moving slowly toward a crowd of bystanders, prompting them to flee in panic. The car collided with a motorcycle after nearly hitting the motorist. The burning vehicle only stopped after it crashed into a road divider.
Chinese text superimposed on the video says: “The car on fire is coming. The car on fire suddenly started.”
The clip was also posted elsewhere on X (here and here). A similar post appeared in a Facebook group called “Hong Kong emergency alert and discussion group,” which has more than 140,000 members.
Social media users seemed to believe it was a Chinese EV, with one saying the car was “made in China,” while another mocked the safety of Chinese EVs.
The video garnered nearly 2,000 shares, over 500 comments and 2,000 likes on the two platforms.
Local Chinese media have been reporting incidents of Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) catching fire. According to the Qianjiang Evening News, at least 11 cases of spontaneous combustion of EVs were reported in Hangzhou from April 30 to May 4.
A Huawei-backed Aito electric SUV burst into flames following a crash with a truck in the Chinese city of Yuncheng, in Shanxi province, in late April, killing three people. In January, a BYD vehicle caught fire at a charging station in Hong Kong.
However, this particular claim is misleading: the video was actually taken in India, not China. Moreover, the vehicle involved was not an electric but a diesel car.
A reverse image search using a screenshot of the video, followed by keyword searches, found the clip appeared in a report from BBC News Hindi, posted on Oct. 14 on X.
The incident happened in Jaipur, the capital of India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan, on Oct. 12, it said.
The driver, identified as Jitendra Jangid, told BBC News that he was on the overpass when he noticed smoke was coming from the vehicle, and that the handbrake failed to stop the car from rolling down.
Annie Lab found another footage of the burning car – taken from a different angle – which was published by Indian news outlets NDTV and the Times of India on Oct. 13.
Both the Times of India and NDTV reports confirmed that the car caught fire in Jaipur and the driver’s name was Jitendra Jangid.
Geolocation
According to Press Trust of India news agency, the incident occurred in the Sodala area of Jaipur. The Times of India gave a more specific detail, that it was on Ajmer Road.
The NDTV video shows a store sign “Dhara Constructions.” Annie Lab could locate the store on Ajmer Road in Sodala. Buildings seen on Google Street View imagery match those seen in the videos.
We also found that the burning car rolled down Elevated Ajmer Road and it stopped opposite The Grand Anukampa Hotel.
Not an electric vehicle
Claims that the burning car was an electric vehicle were also incorrect.
Indian news site Live Mint quoted social media posts saying that the car was an MG Hector.
Another keyword search led Annie Lab to an Oct. 14 official statement from MG Motor India, confirming the make and model of the car.
The vehicle involved was an “MG Hector Diesel (purchased in 2021),” the carmaker said.
According to a 2021 brochure, MG Hector is available in three types of engines: diesel, petrol, and petrol hybrid.
The Fact Paper from China also debunked the same claim.
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