What was claimed
A video shows an electric Ocado van on fire.
Our verdict
The Ocado van was not an electric vehicle and had a diesel engine. An electric vehicle in front of the van subsequently caught fire.
Video shows diesel, not electric, van on fire
7 February 2024
A video showing an Ocado van on fire has been circulating online with claims it shows an electric vehicle.
The footage, which was shared on YouTube in May 2023, shows the front of an Ocado van go up in flames, which spread to the car in front. Firefighters arrive at the scene and extinguish the fire.
Other posts sharing the video on social media say: “Watch and learn quickly how dangerous these EVs really are” and “100% Electric. Zero emissions they said, it’s good for the planet.”
However, the Ocado van was not an electric vehicle. The London Fire Brigade confirmed the van had a diesel engine, but told Full Fact the car that subsequently caught fire was an electric vehicle.
A spokesperson for the fire service said: “On 9 May 2023, firefighters responded to a vehicle fire near the junction of Upper Berkeley Street and Great Cumberland Place.
“The fire originated in a van fitted with a diesel engine. Radiant heat from the van fire then caused an adjacent electric vehicle to also catch fire.
“The Brigade was first called about the fire at 1043, and the incident was over for crews by 1125. Firefighters from Paddington Fire Station attended the scene.”
A spokesperson for Ocado also told Full Fact that the incident did not involve an electric vehicle.
We have previously fact checked other posts falsely claiming to share videos of electric vehicles on fire, including a car at Luton Airport and supposedly a London bus, as well as other misleading claims about electric vehicles.
Image courtesy of Tomjhpage
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because the London Fire Brigade confirmed the Ocado van where the fire originated had a diesel engine.