China: Massive blaze at BYD plant sparks panic, no casualties

The blaze started at 2:48 am (AEST) on April 14 at a parking structure within an industrial park in Shenzhen’s Pingshan district, according to reports cited by news.com.au.

Thick plumes of smoke were seen rising from the facility, with videos of the fire quickly circulating on social media.

Fire tenders were deployed to the site and were later able to bring the situation under control.

According to Chengdu-based outlet Hongxing News, BYD stated that the fire occurred in a designated parking area used for test and scrapped vehicles at its Pingshan campus.

The company further clarified that the incident did not involve battery-related safety issues and did not affect production vehicles or customer-used cars.

Officials reportedly attributed the cause of the fire to improper external construction operations, adding that there was no battery self-ignition or defect in mass-produced vehicles.

The incident comes at a time when BYD is expanding its global ambitions, including plans to deploy 6,000 flash-charging stations overseas—3,000 of them in Europe—while also accelerating the rollout of its premium Denza brand, according to Car News China.