How Safe is Buffett's BYD Electric Car?

Questions are being asked of the e6 electric car made by the Warren Buffett-financed BYD after an accident involving one of the cars took the lives of three people. The facts are still coming in, but it appears that the incident was caused by a drunk-driver in a Nissan GT-R who was speeding at 112mph and smashed into the e6 taxi, killing the driver and two passengers. It seems obvious that the reckless Nissan driver is to blame, especially when considering that he fled the scene of the accident. But the concerns are over the fact that the e6 burst into flames, and the company will be conducting some serious tests in the coming weeks and months as it attempts to discover why that happened and calm public fears. Paul Lin, a spokesman for BYD, told Forbes that, "Interest in the crash was far heavier than we could have imagined. We are very sorry for the deaths and we are trying, of course, to find out why the car set on fire." It is a mystery, especially when considering the fact that e6 vehicles have been used as taxis in the Chinese city of Shenzhen for two years, and have been involved in 18 accidents (on a smaller scale), none of which have resulted in a fire. The cars have passed all of the tests so far, suggesting that either there was a defect with this one particular vehicle or that the blaze was caused by the Nissan. Either way, BYD will want to clear this up quickly. Shares in the company fell 5.9% in Hong Kong and 2.6% in Shenzhen on Monday. However, they recovered by climbing 5.5% in Hong Kong and 2.3% in Shenzhen on Tuesday. Follow me @BCallwood.