Dramatic video shows moment £50k electric Mercedes explodes - sending flames sweeping across family’s driveway

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Watch the moment a £50k luxury electric Mercedes bursts into flames on a family’s driveway - setting fire to their garage and causing smoke damage to the front bedroom.

Dramatic video shows the moment a family’s £50,000 electric Mercedes burst into flames on their driveway.

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Footage shows the luxury EQA model explode just feet away from Scott and Georgina Bayliss’ front door. The blaze was so intense it set fire to the garage and caused smoke damage to the front bedroom.

Firefighters raced to the couple’s home in Spratton, Northamptonshire, after their son James, 17, raised the alarm at around 9.15pm on September 30.

Aftermath of the fire.Aftermath of the fire.
Aftermath of the fire. | Scott Bayliss / SWNS

The car, which had 28,000 miles on the clock, had been sitting idle for ten hours, and was not on charge at the time of the explosion. On the cause of the fire, a theory is that the car, which they bought in 2022, entered a ‘thermal runaway’, when the battery uncontrollably overheats, and is not able to cool down.

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Scott, 47, said: “We don’t know for sure what’s happened, but based on knowledge and video footage, it looks like the car went into some thermal runaway. It exploded 20 seconds into that thermal runaway. You can see some vapour at the rear of the car and then it exploded.

“The initial investigator concluded the vehicle was in such a bad state, it was difficult to ascertain what the fault was. It’s a subjective view, but for all intents and purposes, it feels like a battery fire. No one senior [from Mercedes] has reached out to me and had a chat about it. You’d think they’d be more engaged. How many other Mercedes around the world are that close to fires?”

A spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz UK said: "We were sorry to learn of the incident. After receiving contact from Mr Bayliss, we took it very seriously and immediately contacted his vehicle insurer to arrange to investigate and examine the vehicle. We received feedback today and will set up a joint inspection shortly. Until then, please understand that we cannot comment further. In the meantime, we have offered Mr Bayliss a loan car as a gesture of goodwill.”

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