Is smoke coming out of the inside of your new Tesla while you charge it? Don't call the fire department before reading this

The vast majority of people who currently buy an electric vehicle were driving one with a combustion engine until then, so it is not surprising that their lack of experience with this type of vehicle leads them to face unexpected situations. This has precisely been the case of David Ciccone, an American owner of a Tesla Model 3 with just 9 months of use.

In a post published on X -the former Twitter- David recounts the scare his Tesla Model 3 gave him while charging at a Supercharger a few days after Christmas. According to him, when it had been charging for a while at very low temperatures, smoke suddenly began to come out of the inside of the vehicle. Things did not look good at all.

As most of us would probably have done, David, fearing the worst, did not hesitate for a moment to disconnect the vehicle from the Supercharger and call emergency services -911 in his case- so that a police patrol and firefighters would come immediately. Fortunately for him, his Tesla had no problem, but not knowing what was really happening cost him $319 for the unnecessary service provided by a tow truck, which took the vehicle to the nearest Tesla Service Center, where the brand’s technicians investigated what had happened.

The report later published by the Tesla Service Center finally allowed David to understand what had happened. After analyzing whether the battery pack could have suffered any damage, the brand’s technicians certified that it was in perfect condition, although they confirmed that at one point it had reached an excessively high temperature, reaching 70 degrees Celsius. As a consequence, the vehicle’s heat pump had to work at full capacity to cool the battery, and due to the low outside temperatures, this caused water vapor to be generated.

Tesla refers precisely to this possibility in the user manual, which very few electric vehicle owners are in the habit of reading

“Under certain conditions, the temperature conditioning system may produce water vapor in vehicles equipped with a heat pump. To determine whether your vehicle has one, tap Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Information. For example, on some occasions water vapor may emanate from the front of the vehicle while charging at a Supercharger when the outside temperature is very low. This is perfectly normal and should not be cause for any concern.”

So, if this ever happens to you, whether with a Tesla or any other electric vehicle equipped with a heat pump, don’t panic. This is how heat pumps work, and it is not smoke, it is just water vapor.

Technical specifications of this car

SedanTesla Model 34 versions · from 36,990 €