A futuristic jet triggered an evacuation Tuesday and left three people injured when its batteries sparked a chain reaction.

A white Archer eVTOL aircraft in flight against a clear blue sky.

The Archer Aviation Inc. Midnight aircraft sits at the company’s flight test facility in Salinas, California, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. Archer is preparing to bring an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to market in 2025. Bloomberg via Getty Images

Archer Aviation said the incident at the San Jose facility involved 30 Molicel batteries and can be attributed to an “employee error,” according to KRON.

Molicel is a battery manufacturer and describes a thermal runaway as “a dangerous chain reaction in lithium batteries, causing the battery to overheat, potentially fail, catch fire, or even explode.”

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