Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump hotel, Elon Musk blames fireworks

A Tesla Cybertruck has exploded outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, killing at least one occupant and injuring several members of the public.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) first announced it had received reports of a fire at the entrance to the building shortly before 8:40am on January 1, before later confirming the Tesla Cybertruck had exploded.

Vision uploaded by X (formerly Twitter) user ‘@kaaaassuu’ shows the Cybertruck’s cabin on fire outside the hotel lobby, claiming “it first looked like fireworks”.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to social media platform X (which he owns) to confirm the company was looking into reports that the fire and explosion had been started by fireworks in the electric pickup.

The executive later posted: “We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”

In an update to media, Sheriff Kevin McMahill said the LVMPD was investigating “a number of leads” about the identity of the occupant, however “there does not appear to be any further threat to our community (Las Vegas) now.”

The explosion comes less than two months after Donald Trump, who part-owns the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, was reelected as US President. He is due to be inaugurated on January 20.

President-elect Trump received the support of Mr Musk in the lead-up to the November election, and the Tesla CEO has been appointed as co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency.

While some have criticised electric vehicles as fire-prone, EV FireSafe, an Australian company which collates global vehicle fire data, has found there have been 511 reported incidents of thermal runaway in EV and plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) batteries worldwide between 2010 and the end of June 2024.