SEARCH
Best Way to Extinguish a Flaming Electric Vehicle? Let It Burn
re: WSJ
Dangerous at 0 mph?
See also:
Producing EVs Whether People Want Them or Not
Policies Meant to Address Climate Change Can Worsen Human Suffering
Best Way to Extinguish a Flaming Electric Vehicle? Let It Burn
2023-11-07
Firefighters called to extinguish an electric-vehicle fire are discovering the surest approach is to stand back and watch it burn.
Electric cars combust differently than their gas-powered counterparts. Firefighters and researchers said EV fires last longer, are harder to put out and have a tendency to reignite.
First responders in Franklin, Tenn., faced their first burning EV in September, a Nissan Leaf that ignited while charging outside the car maker’s North America headquarters.
They spent hours pouring 45,000 gallons of water on the car, compared with the 500 to 1,000 gallons that fires involving gasoline-powered vehicles usually need, Fire Marshal Andy King said. “I think if we were faced with a similar scenario next time, we might need to let it burn,” he said.
It isn’t clear how frequently EV fires take place, but as the cars become a larger part of the American fleet, some fire departments see them as a growing nuisance. Firefighters in Florida’s North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District responded to six last year after a storm surge brought by Hurricane Ian caused saltwater to get into EV battery compartments, which can cause short-circuits.
...The batteries contain flammable chemicals and can release their own oxygen as they burn, allowing EV fires to reignite hours or even days after they appear to be quenched. They also emit toxic fumes that Tom Miller, who teaches for the West Virginia University Fire Service Extension and the National Volunteer Fire Council, said “make hydrogen cyanide look like Pez.”
...
WIND: IMO, EV’s are the dumbest and brownest technology in years, as the world will figure out in a decade or so, barring some major improvement. Unless we get boatloads of low-cost nuclear power going and we can solve the worldwide environmental horrors that goes into producing one with 10X the resource inputs of a conventional vehicle. Your 'green' is some poor bastard’s child labor or environmental mess somewhere else. If we want clean, we should be doing hydrogen or similar.
People are going to die in their homes from EV care fires. They already are dying from battery fires from scooters and bicycles. When will the 'stupid' be engineered out?
Of course, I hope to be proven wrong someday, with some kind of improved battery technology and reduced resource inputs. But right now, EVs are about as brown as things get.
Meanwhile, the poor subsidize the rich.
Don’t hit one!
How’s that 75% higher insurance rate for EV’s doing for you? Financial calamity awaits if you are underinsured and total a top-line Tesla—so incredibly risky for regular drivers that it borders on assholish. Well, that’s why I carry a lot of extra liability insurance, but few people do.
Be careful, running into a top-line Tesla could wipe out your life savings. Yes, I checked with my insurance company: without the extra liabilitiy insurance, I could be paying out $50K or $100K out of pocket. Of course the same thing applies if you run into a top-line Porsche or Bentley, but in my neighborhood half the cars are virtue signalling Teslas, de rigeur for multi-millionaires.
