Tree-Hugger Porsche EV Fire destroyed over 4000 Cars, sank ship (4th Update)

Volkswagen AG faces a pair of lawsuits in Germany over claims it was the battery in a Porsche electric vehicle that triggered the 2022 fire onboard a massive cargo ship that eventually sank with thousands of cars on board.

One of the suits was filed in a court in Stuttgart where VW’s Porsche unit is based. The case was brought by half a dozen plaintiffs, including Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., the ship’s operator, and Allianz SE, one of the insurers of the vessel, according to a spokesman for the tribunal.

The case was filed a year ago but was recently paused because of mediation talks planned for a second lawsuit over the ship’s that’s currently before a court in Braunschweig. Both cases will resume if no settlement can be reached. A Braunschweig judge plans to hold the talks later this month, according to a tribunal spokesman.

Volkswagen confirmed the suits but declined to comment further. Mitsui didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. Allianz didn’t have any immediate comment.

The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace caught fire near the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean two years ago and was left adrift after the crew was rescued. An internal email from VW’s U.S. operations at the time revealed there were 3,965 vehicles aboard the ship. The cargo ship’s loss could have cost the automaker at least $155 million, according to a risk-modeling company’s estimate.

The plaintiffs claim that the fire originated from the lithium-ion battery of a Porsche model and allege VW failed to inform them of the danger and necessary precautions needed to transport such vehicles, according to the Stuttgart court. Although the case was filed a year ago, the judges haven’t yet looked into the merits of the suit as the parties have been quarreling about the amount of collateral that must be posted before it can proceed.

A log of all the cars aboard the sunken ship:

• Five Volkswagen ID.4s, marked as “test” vehicles
• One similarly test-marked Volkswagen Taigo, which is notably not sold in the U.S.
• 83 Volkswagen Golfs, with no breakdown between GTIs and Golf Rs
• 50 Audi Q3s
• Three Audi A4 Cabrios
• 44 Audi A5 Sportbacks
• 10 Audi A5 Coupes
• 34 Audi E-Trons
• 9 Audi E-Tron Sportbacks
• 126 Porsche “Bratislava”s. Porsche has all its cars listed under factory names, but the Bratislava factory builds the Cayenne, so that’s likely what these are
• 23 Porsche “Zuffenhausen 85″s. The Zuffenhausen factory produces 718s, 911s, and Taycans, though it’s unclear which of those (or their submodels) is the “85″
• 25 Porsche “Zuffenhausen”s, with no number. These have an average weight of 4,475 lbs, far above even the heaviest 911, making it likely that these are Taycans
• 19 Porsche “Leipzig 62″s, either the Macan or the Panamera
• Three Bentley Continental Flying Spurs
• Six Bentley Continental GTs
• 12 Bentley Continental GTCs
• 12 Bentley Bentaygas
• Five Lamborghini Huracans
• Six Lamborghini Aventadors
• 10 Lamborghini Urus…es? Urii?
• One 2015 Porsche Cayenne
• One 2015 Ford Mustang
• One 2014 Kia Soul
• One 2018 Nissan Versa Note
• One 2017 Volkswagen Jetta
• One 2007 BMW 750I
• One 1996 Honda Prelude.

The Felicity Ace cargo ship that caught fire off the coast of Portugal on Feb. 16 has sunk. An update on the vessel’s official information site confirmed the news Tuesday morning, explaining that it had “suffered a list to starboard.” Salvage teams remain at the site as they continue to monitor the situation and look out for further incidents.

Salvage crews were finally able to board the Felicity Ace on Friday, Feb. 25, and were towing the boat to safety, but they never made it back to shore before the boat sunk.

According to Tuesday morning’s official statement, the boat was 220 nautical miles off the Azores region of Portugal when it went under.

It’s believed that the lithium-ion batteries of electric vehicles on the ship may have prolonged the fire and made it more difficult to extinguish for recovery crews, and for all we know, that is what may have started the fire in the first place.

The fire started in the cargo hold of the ship and one has to wonder if the batteries in an electric vehicle (perhaps a Porsche Taycan or VW ID 4) did not experience one of their infamous spontaneous combustion events.

Pure speculation at this time, but a distinct possibility given the history with Litium Ion batteries.

If you were waiting for a new Porsche, Audi or Bentley that you ordered, we are sorry to report it might never arrive.

The cargo ship Felicity Ace, loaded with thousands of high-end German vehicles bound for the USA, continues to burn over a thousand miles off the coast of Portugal in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean following a successful rescue effort of the 22 crew members Wednesday.

The ship had departed from Emden, Germany, on Feb. 10 and was scheduled to arrive in Davisville, R.I., on Wednesday.

“We are aware of an incident involving a third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic,” commented an Audi spokesperson. “The vessel was on its way to North America. At this time, we are not aware of any injuries. We are in contact with the shipping company to get additional information about the incident.”

Insider obtained a statement from VW saying the Felicity Ace was carrying approximately 4,000 vehicles at the time of the fire, and per Autoblog, about 1,100 are Porsches and 189 are Bentleys. The majority of the rest are likely Volkswagens or Audis.