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Explosion at GM Tech Center; lithium battery is the suspected cause
autoweek.com ^ | 4/11/12 | David Arnouts

Posted on 04/11/2012 8:51:24 AM PDT by equaviator

According to WWJ Detroit, there was an explosion at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Mich., on Wednesday morning.

Deputy Fire Chief Gary Wilkinson said the explosion most likely was related to a lithium battery.

Wilkinson told Autoweek that a responder notified the HAZMAT team via radio that the explosion involved lithium batteries in the research facility's Alternative Energy Center.

The fire was extinguished and portions of the facility were evacuated, but responders were still on the scene.

Two people were taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.

Check out WWJ CBS Detroit for up-to-the-minute information.

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120411/CARNEWS/120419982#ixzz1rkOFfaeg


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: climate; giss; gm; hansen; jameshansen; michigan; voltjolt
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To: jazusamo

“I’d bet there’s a bunch of GM and Chevy execs beating their heads against a wall over this incident.”

GM Public Affairs Office secretary:

“Sir, President Obama is waiting to speak to you on line 1...Yessir, I’ll tell him.”


21 posted on 04/11/2012 10:41:46 AM PDT by equaviator
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
It’s funny - I’ve owned a lot of those old “internal combustion engine” cars over the course of my life - and not a single one of them has ever exploded.

Heh. Perhaps the Volt's powerplant should be classified as an "external combustion engine." (No disrespect to the Sterling motor!)

22 posted on 04/11/2012 11:08:06 AM PDT by Moltke (Always retaliate first.)
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
"I’ve owned a lot of those old “internal combustion engine” cars over the course of my life - and not a single one of them has ever exploded."

Actually, I had one that did - a '64 Corvette. You maybe could blame the government, though. 1964 was the first year of smog rules, and Chevrolet eliminated crankcase emissions by porting the crankcase vent up, into the air cleaner rather than down to the road. This caused the air cleaner to soak up oil from the crankcase.

I experienced a backfire, which then lit the oil soaked air cleaner. The resulting fire then lit the fiberglass hood resins. It was not fun.

23 posted on 04/11/2012 11:56:20 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
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To: norwaypinesavage
This caused the air cleaner to soak up oil from the crankcase.

venting into the intake tract also causes the flash point of the fuel mixture to drop, thus predisposing to pinging and detonation.

24 posted on 04/11/2012 12:02:37 PM PDT by going hot (Happiness is a momma deuce)
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To: wita
...and would hope right thinking people in all corners of the US would be as well.

By definition, they are. If they aren't, then they aren't right thinking!

25 posted on 04/11/2012 12:06:57 PM PDT by jammer
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To: going hot

Indeed. subsequent years added a Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve, and also ported the fumes directly into the carburetor to reduce adverse effects.


26 posted on 04/11/2012 12:09:50 PM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
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To: jazusamo
STICK IT
27 posted on 04/11/2012 12:10:19 PM PDT by SMM48
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To: norwaypinesavage

Unfortunately, cars get smog checked biennially. In between times, a little tampering goes a long way in boosting the ponies. With cycles, adjustments “for off road racing purposes only” are the norm.


28 posted on 04/11/2012 12:19:22 PM PDT by going hot (Happiness is a momma deuce)
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To: SMM48; equaviator

ROFLOL!!

The truth hurts doesn’t it?

SMM is a Volt lover, equaviator.


29 posted on 04/11/2012 12:19:26 PM PDT by jazusamo (Character assassination is just another form of voter fraud: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
Since you are the FR-self-anointed expert on everything Volt, I assume anything that comes out of your pie hole is based on FACT, not just your humble opinion.

My bad for assuming.

30 posted on 04/11/2012 12:45:54 PM PDT by SMM48
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To: SMM48

Your adolescence is showing, boy.


31 posted on 04/11/2012 12:57:54 PM PDT by jazusamo (Character assassination is just another form of voter fraud: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Yeah, so is Jennifer Granholm...Jenny take a ride!


32 posted on 04/11/2012 1:18:35 PM PDT by equaviator
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To: equaviator

ObamaMotors still owes us about $36-$58 billion. Stock chart...

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GM+Interactive#symbol=gm;range=2y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

Sources for what is owed...

http://bungalowbillscw.blogspot.com/2010/11/obama-declares-gm-american-success.html

http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-much-money-does-general-motors-owe-the-united-states-federal-government/18816275


33 posted on 04/11/2012 1:19:25 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: PGalt

“...for every $1 of profit, the U.S. government paid $4. Taxpayers also spent another $27-billion to buy General Motors stock and currently own about 30% of the company in stock. 47,500 blue-collar workers will be receiving profit sharing checks of up to $7,000.”

I hope they’re not breaking their arms patting themselves on the back. Probably are...GM seems like it’d be a weird place to work. “We’re special!”


34 posted on 04/11/2012 4:46:52 PM PDT by equaviator
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To: Responsibility2nd
Let me guess. The Volt factory?

Hybrids use Lithium batteries too. But the ones for all electric vehicles are by necessity of higher capacity and higher energy density. Thus, more likely to turn into a bomb.

35 posted on 04/11/2012 6:56:08 PM PDT by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: ILS21R

“Why are they still messing around with batteries? It is insanity to continue with electric powered vehicles.”

IINM, people have been trying batteries for 100+yrs, and it still isn’t working. What’s the definition of “insanity”, again? It sure fits these greenie-techy morons.


36 posted on 04/11/2012 7:08:44 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (I'd vote for a "orange juice can", before 0bummer&HisRegimeFromHell, gets another 4yrs. Can-> later.)
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To: El Gato
Natural gas dropped below $2 per 1,000 cubic feet. Lowest in 10 years. Much lower considering inflation over that 10 years.

Compressed or liquified NG is a proven technology for internal combustion engines. The modifications are minimal and may even allow for easy switchover at need.

Of course NG can be, and is, used in electricity generation too.

But that is not the point. The Socialists hate the automobile, it gives the lumpen proliteriate too much independence and freedom. So they'll soon discover that burning natural gas creates CO2, which it does, and we can forget about it.

Meanwhile the electric grid is strained to the breaking point. Even Texas almost went to rolling blackouts last summer, although they THINK they'll be OK this year. So what does Crazy Eddie do? Push electric cars. (For Crazy Eddie reference see the Mote In God's Eye, by Pournelle and Niven)

"When a city has grown so overlarge and crowded that it is in immediate danger of collapse ... when food and clean water flow into the city at a rate just sufficient to feed every mouth, and every hand must work constantly to keep it that way ... when all transportation is involved in moving vital supplies, and none is left over to move people out of the city should the need arise ... then it is that Crazy Eddie leads the movers of garbage out on strike for better working conditions."

"It was not part of his nature to wish for what could not be, but he hoped that the efforts to breed a more stable Mediator would succeed; it was difficult to work with creatures who might suddenly see an unreal universe and make judgements based on it. The pattern was always the same. First they wished for the impossible. Then they worked toward it, still knowing it to be impossible. Finally they acted as if the impossible could be achieved, and let that unreality influence every act."

Barack Hussein Obama is Crazy Eddie.

37 posted on 04/11/2012 7:24:26 PM PDT by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: Uncle Ike

One of the legends at the parts store I worked at was about some genius who walked in and asked for a can of “Freezone.” So the young counter guy sells him a can of R-12. Genius walks out, removes the radiator cap and proceeds to punch a hole in the top of the can with a screwdriver. One nanosecond later it was frozen to his hand. He came back in a little upset...


38 posted on 04/11/2012 8:05:54 PM PDT by Clay Moore (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: equaviator; a fool in paradise

I sleep with my lithium batteries. Ya think I oughta reconsider?


39 posted on 04/11/2012 8:07:41 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: jazusamo

“If GM had been completely honest about the Volt over the last couple years it might be no big thing but they haven’t.”

If they had been completely honest about the 350 diesel, we might have a large portion of the fleet running diesel today.


40 posted on 04/11/2012 8:09:00 PM PDT by Clay Moore (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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