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Electric car falls from third floor office in Shanghai, killing two
The BBC reported that Chinese electric carmaker Nio says that two people were killed when one of its vehicles fell from the third floor of its headquarters in Shanghai.
The incident took place on Wednesday at around 17:20 local time, the firm said. The people that died were inside the vehicle as it fell from the building.
According to the BBC, the third storey area from where the car fell has been variously described as a showroom, a testing facility or a car park.
The company said in a statement: "Our company has collaborated with public security department to launch the investigation and analysis of the cause of the accident. Based on the analysis of the situation at the scene, we can initially confirm that this was an accident (not caused by the vehicle)."
Terrible story of two test drivers at #China’s electrical vehicle manufacturer NIO being killed when a car somehow smashed out of a building and came crashing down from a great height. pic.twitter.com/4ZNI2t7LqZ
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) June 23, 2022
It added: "We feel very sad about this accident and would like to express our deepest condolences to our colleague and partner employee who lost their lives. A team has been set up to help the families."
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Nio is at the forefront of China's home-grown drive to dominate the electric vehicle industry. It has bet big on interchangeable batteries in its cars as a way to overcome customer concerns about frequent charging.
The company has sometimes been called China's "Tesla killer", in a reference to its rivalry with multi-billionaire Elon Musk's US-based electric car maker which has a major manufacturing plant in Shanghai.
Source: BBC
