Posted on 05/05/2023 8:24:48 AM PDT by Red Badger
A self-driving electric car caught fire at a warehouse in Phoenix earlier this week and firefighters suspect it might not be fully extinguished for weeks.
KSAZ-TV reported a Waymo self-driving electric car burst into flames on Tuesday morning inside a building located near the interaction of Third Street and Buckey Road.
The building’s sprinkler system has been credited with preventing the fire from spreading to other cars in the fleet.
Electric vehicle fires are notoriously challenging to put out and the one that caught fire Tuesday was no exception.
According to KSAZ-TV, more than 50 firefighters descended upon the warehouse to tackle the fire – which was still smoldering as of Thursday.
No one was injured in the fire.
First responders from both the Phoenix and Tempe fire departments worked to get the blaze under control.
The Fox affiliate reported the car blaze is being kept under control by sand and water and firefighters do not expect it will fully burn itself out for up to three weeks.
The vehicle is also sitting in what was described as a dumpster to isolate it.
Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Todd Keller told the outlet the batteries used in such cars — which are lithium-ion — can reach extreme heat in a matter of a fraction of a second.
“These cells in a 10th of a second can heat up to 1,200 degrees, that’s why it makes it so difficult to extinguish these fires,” Keller said.
He added firefighters are always working to find new methods to get such blazes under control.
“We may have not fought an EV fire the way we did a year ago, but we’re always advancing our technology on how to extinguish these,” he said. “You have to cool them down.”
During EV blazes, firefighters often run out of water.
WJAC-TV in Pennsylvania reported a recent Tesla fire in Clearfield County took 12,000 gallons of water to extinguish.
The blaze took two hours to get under control as fire crews kept running out of water.
Officials in the area have been undergoing special training regarding putting out EV fires — including what to do with cars once the flames have been put out.
Some burning EVs that have been put out have reignited hours later, meaning finding somewhere to store them has to be taken into account.
“Insurers will refuse to write policies on garages, both public and private. “
If an electric vehicle catches fire in a business garage and burns it down, is the electric vehicle owner’s insurance required to pay for the burnt down garage (might cost $1M to rebuild) under the $100k property damage liability?
As an owner of an electric vehicle, I would consider getting umbrella insurance.
Cheaper to own a regular Gas car.
Gotta remind myself to NEVER park next to one of those damn things.
My engineer friend says EVs should have an outside connection for a fire hose. (The batteries are underneath the chassis and difficult to reach by conventional means).
Hide it with a flap.
Should have a built-in FOAM FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM that takes away Oxygen........................
It says on the web site “an experience next to none”.
…I GUESS!
An episode of “Fire Country” dealt with that very thing.
They got EV locomotives all over Europe.
That is EUROPE. Small countries and all that.
Subways are all electric. They have to be.
They used to have what they called trams in the USA in the cities at one time. All electric.
You aint old enough to remember those? I am. Milwaukee had dozens and as did many cities and towns. But, having said that, that was in a time where one didnt get mugged by some Son of a Bitch while riding them.
So, in many respects we are going backwards.
As far as EV personal vehicles? Aint going to happen unless they figure it out.
Cause CO2 is um bad, they say.
The vehicle in their video is a JAGUAR.
OR as they say on their stupid snobby commercials:
a Jag U r
Swell, we are gonna have a whole,bunch of new “Centralia PA” events - gee, won’t that be great for global warming? / s
500 years give or take, depending on the source.
“They got EV locomotives all over Europe.”
But they are not battery powered. In case of electrical fire, turn off the power.
Since electric vehicles are the darlings of Elon Musk, it is only fitting Musk agree, if your Tesla catches on fire, Space X (also an Elon Musk company) will launch your burning EV into deep space on a powerful rocket. Let your burning Tesla blast through endless space.
Those batteries release oxygen while burning. :-)
So when the New US Army successfully converts Abrams tanks to all electric .......how long will the fire burn?
\/
Wow, you just reminded me of this verse that I’ve always wondered about
Eze 39:10
They will not need to
gather wood from the fields
or cut it from the forests,
because they will use the weapons
for fuel.
.....
For seven years
they will use them for fuel.
.
For seven years
they will use them for fuel.
/\
Aka
How to start a fire with water.
Good for the environment.
The mistake being made by firefighters is trying to SLOW down the burn of EV fires. There should be a way to intensify the burn so the vehicle is completely consumed by an incredibly hot fire within a few minutes. If the EV is going to be totaled anyway, burn it quickly into nothing. Use napalm, hydrogen, acetone, benzene or something even more flammable if needed.
You could completely blow up the car with military-grade explosives. Make it go away using the “big bang” theory.
Then, fill in the crater in the road and pave over it.
Customer: How many fires do you have?
Waymo...................
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