Tesla owner says nothing unusual before car burst into flames

The owner of a Tesla sedan in Shanghai whose parked vehicle burst into flames on Sunday evening said he was neither charging the car nor found unusual conditions when the incident occurred.

According to a report by Shanghai TV, the car's owner, identified by his family name, Dong, said he gave the electric car a quick recharge on Sunday afternoon but it was not fully charged. The car ignited on its own half an hour after he parked it at the underground garage in his residential community at about 8 pm.

"There are not many items in my car, and I don't smoke or carry any flammable things," he was quoted as saying.

The man said the car was a Model S P85, manufactured in September 2014. With an official price at 1.07 million yuan ($159,000), he bought the car used for test drives at a Tesla store in Shanghai's Hongqiao area at a discounted price of 720,000 yuan in November 2015.

Last month, however, the man had a repair made on the car's electricity-powered door handle that was not working on the driver's side.