Image Credit: Weibo.Seeing flames coming from underneath an electrified vehicle immediately causes onlookers to think the battery is on fire. Bystanders in Hangzhou, China, probably thought that, too, when they noticed smoke and flames appearing beneath a parked Lynk & Co 900.Video from the scene shows a relatively localized fire underneath the large SUV. People nearby attempted to tackle the flames with a portable fire extinguisher before firefighters ultimately dealt with the incident.Given the location of the fire, speculation naturally turned toward the vehicle's high-voltage battery. The local dealership, however, says something very different happened.According to CarNewsChina, Hangzhou Lingyue Lynk & Co Centre issued a statement the following day denying that the 900's traction battery had ignited. Based on an account provided by the vehicle's owner, the dealership claims a pedestrian dropped a portable power bank before it was kicked underneath the SUV and subsequently caught fire.The Power-Bank Explanation Isn't ConfirmedImage Credit: Weibo.CarNewsChina reports that the incident occurred at approximately 4:06 p.m. on September 9 on a commercial street in Hangzhou. Footage posted to the Chinese social media platform Weibo by a user called Life Helper shows smoke and flames underneath the stationary 900, although the video itself doesn't reveal what actually started the fire.No publicly released battery telemetry, thermal data, or forensic evidence has established that a power bank caused the blaze, which means the dealership's explanation isn't yet an official finding.The municipal fire investigation is expected to provide the final determination through a Fire Accident Certificate. Until then, the possibility that an external power bank started the fire is just an account from the owner relayed by the dealership.The 900 Has A Very Large BatteryImage Credit: Lynk & Co.The Lynk & Co 900 is the Chinese brand's flagship three-row plug-in hybrid SUV. Depending on the version, it uses either a 44.9-kWh or 52.4-kWh traction battery supplied by CALB and CATL, respectively.For perspective, CarNewsChina notes that a typical 10,000-mAh consumer power bank stores roughly 0.037 kWh. The enormous difference in stored energy doesn't establish what happened here, since even a much smaller lithium-ion battery can create a localized fire under the right circumstances.The 900's battery sits within its own protective enclosure, while other components underneath the vehicle include aerodynamic covers and splash shields. An external heat source could theoretically ignite nearby materials without causing thermal runaway inside the high-voltage battery, although there is currently no evidence proving that's what happened in this case.Investigators Still Have The Final SayChina introduced tougher mandatory battery-safety requirements under the GB 38031-2025 standard on July 1, 2026. Meeting those requirements, however, can't tell investigators what caused an individual vehicle fire.For now, the confirmed facts are fairly limited. A Lynk & Co 900 experienced a fire underneath the vehicle, the dealership says its high-voltage battery didn't ignite, and the owner reportedly blamed a power bank that had been kicked beneath it. That certainly makes for a stranger explanation than a straightforward vehicle fault.If you want more stories like this, follow Guessing Headlights on Yahoo so you don't miss what's coming next.
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