The Southern Marin Fire Department helped when a Rivian R1T electric pickup truck caught fire while it was parked near an Electrify America charging station in Mill Valley, California. But from the pictures, it looks like the fire was only in the front of the car, where the charging port is. Both Rivian and Electrify America are looking into what happened. Reddit and CarScoops have already written about the story. Images and Rivian’s first evaluation show that the high-voltage battery did not directly cause the fire near the front of the car. The pictures show that the Rivian was severely damaged. There are signs that the fire spread across the whole vehicle hood. There is also a broken windshield and charring that goes all the way to the top of the EA station charger, which shows that the flames must have gone a long way. In the pictures, the charging line also seems to be on the ground. At this point, there isn’t much that is known. Rivian and EA back up that no injuries have been recorded. At the time of the report, the responding Fire Department had not said anything about the event on social media. The pictures show that the car was moved, but we must find out where. All of the fires Rivian and Electrify America have had in the past that have been recorded have been looked into. Some people say that the chargers from Electrify America can “fry” electric cars or, even worse, start a fire. In Tracy, California, in March 2023, an all-electric Volkswagen ID4 SUV caught fire while parked at an EA station. A battery pack fire broke out in May last year at Rivian’s plant. When we find out more about the event in Mill Valley, we’ll add to this post. This week, a website fan posted photos of the Rivian fire.
