Mainland follies: Family’s new electric scooter explodes while charging in living room (VIDEO)

A man and his daughter were lucky to escape injury last Sunday after a recently-bought electric scooter charging in their Beijing home caught fire and exploded.

The terrifying blast was caught on footage uploaded this week to social media.

The clip shows the pair watching TV together when, at about 5:30pm, a loud noise comes from the two-wheeler.

The man, walking past a clearly startled dog, quickly unplugs it from the socket as a small stream of smoke rapidly turns into a thick plume.




Within seconds, as the pair and the pup scurry for safety, the scooter explodes and a blast tears through the room, leaving the vehicle in flames.

According to Chinese outlet The Paper, the wife of the man, surnamed Zhao, said she bought the electric scooter for RMB¥ 1,780 (US$259) from an online shop, Tmall about a week ago.

She said they were charging the scooter for the third time when it exploded and had contacted Tmall and the vehicle’s manufacturer, who had apologized and offered RMB¥ 20,000 ($2911) as compensation.

According to the outlet, the family accepted the cash and would not take further legal action.

Zhao said most of the furniture in the room was damaged and would need to be replaced.

In a post on Weibo, a representative of the manufacturer said they were yet to determine the cause of the sudden explosion.

“I can’t tell what’s the reason causing the explosion because I don’t have the debris right now,” they wrote.

“We would look into the after we have received it. No matter the reason is on us or not, we would hold a press conference explain and give an account to the public.”



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