'Out of control’ fire aboard a massive car-carrier ship spotlights the calamitous consequences of electric vehicles

American Thinker ^ | 07/27/2023 | Olivia Murray

[SeekAndFind]

Seventeen miles offshore from an island belonging to the Netherlands, a nearly 20,000-ton vessel loaded with vehicles is burning “out of control,” and officials are in a race against time; Lea Versteeg, spokesperson for the Dutch coast guard, reportedly said, “we’re currently working out to see how we can make sure that...the least bad situation is going to happen.”

A Daily Mail article out yesterday reported that at least one crew member had died while “many” others were injured, while another outlet identified the site of the chaos as a priceless environmental gem. From ABC News:

Its location is close to a chain of Dutch and German islands popular with tourists in the shallow Wadden Sea, a World Heritage-listed area described by UNESCO as ‘the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world’ and ‘one of the most important areas for migratory birds in the world.’

Daily Mail noted:

The Fremantle Highway [the ship] is close to Ameland, one of four ecologically sensitive Frisian islands, situated in the Waddensee [sic] area just north of the Dutch mainland. 

Also called the Frisian Islands, the area has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has a rich diversity of more than 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species.

This included more than 140 species of fish of which some 20 spent their entire life in tidal areas along the islands' famous mud flats. The area also has a large seal and porpoise population.

Should the Fremantle Highway sink, ‘it would be a disaster of the highest order,’ the tabloid De Telegraaf said.

The tragedy is still unfolding, so the cause of the fire either isn’t known or hasn’t been made public, but per BBC:

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

Not just EV’s, this happens to ICE vehicles too.

The majority of ICE fires are from collisions or shoddy maintenance especially for shitboxes that should be off the road.

I'm amazed at how often I smell gas around some cars and after mentioning it to the driver, they shrug their shoulder and off they go.

It would take some real digging to get the true number of ICE vehicles that spontaneously combust sitting in a garage or on the driveway.

Gasoline is stable while spark or flame is absent whereas EV batteries are always experiencing a chemical reaction.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Buy an EV and you’re garage can look like this too.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

EV’s are burning all over China, every day.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Not just EV’s, this happens to ICE vehicles too.

Nonsense, you pulled that out of your a$$. The last big problem was Chevy Trucks and Pinto's and those were caused by collision.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

And, during and after WWII, there were hundreds of ships lost in these same shallow waters. Pure enviro-propaganda-hysteria.

Not caused by their cargo. It's happening daily. That's just how lithium batteries are. The slightest short circuit and boom.

[Seruzawa]

Yes. But you can put those out with water fog. Not lithium batteries. Any professional crew member should be trained in fire fighting with water fog which will put out gasoline/oil fires. I had to get trained on it in the Navy.

[Seruzawa]

In a ship fire the paint can burn too and spread the fire throughout the ship. The heat will pass right through metal walls and start fires in other compartments. Ship fires are really bad news. EVs should be stored where they can easily be pushed over side. An EV battery fire basically cannot be put out. It will continue to burn underwater.

Using lithium for EVs is a really stupid idea. Which is of course why the govt is fully behind it.

[Waverunner]

When someone I knew in school got his wife a tesla for her retirement,at the party, another school friend who was about to retire from the fire department told him that the fire department would have to empty his pool to put out the fire and he could just plan on writing the house off if it took the fire department more than a few minutes to get there.

[Glad2bnuts]

The Washington Ferry system is going to go from Diesel electrics, to full on electric boats. Few will survive when they catch fire. Anyone see the video of the bus on fire? Like a blow torch 2 yards in diameter, from two locations. NOTHING can put it out.

[SunkenCiv]

/bingo

[MIA_eccl1212]

the fire itself is caused by global environmental anthropogenic climate change issues.

rofl

[Scrambler Bob]

So this fire is really caused by climate change.

= = =

Yes.

And it is heating the oceans.

[threefinger]

"In a ship fire the paint can burn too and spread the fire throughout the ship. The heat will pass right through metal walls and start fires in other compartments. Ship fires are really bad news. EVs should be stored where they can easily be pushed over side. An EV battery fire basically cannot be put out. It will continue to burn underwater...."

Thermal runaway fires of Li-Ion batteries are hot enough to weaken structural steel. The fire allegedly had gone out in the Felicity Ace and they were trying to tow her to shallower waters when she began listing 45° to starboard and then went under. So undoubtedly some structural component(s) had been weakened enough from the heat that their eventual failure was predestined.

Water eventually will put out a lithium fire but by cooling it, not by depriving it of oxygen. Halon doesn't work either, for the same reason. It's not the sort of fire that consumes oxygen. And it takes a lot of water because it has to cool the burning battery to below the spontaneous ignition temperature of the Li-Ion cells. There've been a few accountings of firemen extinguishing burning EVs with water in the press, and it's always in the tens of thousands of gallons, like 30-40 thousand.

This is a BMW i8 Li-Ion hybrid at set itself on fire in Holland in 2019. They apparently have a mobile water tank for just such eventualities. They lifted the car with a crane and dropped it in the oversized fire bucket.

[Mean Daddy]

Two reasons, weight & fire hazard.

[e_castillo]

A lot of things are melting...

[Texan4Life]

China’s Flagship EVs are Exploding in Huge Numbers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOA7qKMcjcE

Covered Up! - China’s Electric Car Safety - You’re Being Sold a Lie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKa8mVOe5so

China is Throwing Away Fields of Electric Cars - Letting them Rot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8&t=301s