Electric Car Becomes Fireball After High-Speed Crash in Underground Parking Lot

Investigators are examining security footage from an underground parking garage in Rishon LeZion, where a man in his 80s died Sunday after his electric vehicle caught fire. Preliminary findings suggest the driver accelerated to approximately 100 km/h (62 mph) before crashing into a concrete wall. The Zeekr electric car instantly became a fireball upon impact, burning for about two hours before firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Fire officials stated the fire was a direct result of the high-impact collision and not a malfunction of the vehicle's lithium-ion battery. The incident occurred on the first basement level of a 20-story building in the Neve Hof neighborhood. The underground garage, shared by several buildings, filled with smoke, which began spreading into the residential building. Residents were instructed to shelter in their apartments, and electricity to the buildings was cut off.

As of Monday morning, three 29-story buildings remained without power. The driver, a resident of the complex, had traveled about 70-100 meters within the garage before the head-on collision with the wall at the garage's end. His body was transferred to the forensic institute for definitive identification via DNA. Investigators hope an autopsy will reveal why the driver accelerated so rapidly in the confined space.

The intense impact ignited the lithium-ion battery, making the fire exceptionally difficult and time-consuming to extinguish. Two nearby vehicles also caught fire, and dozens of other cars in the garage sustained damage from soot.