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All-Electric Car Race Ends in Crash With No Flames, But Plenty of Sparks
Mashable ^ | September 13, 2014 | Adario Strange

Posted on 09/14/2014 4:51:22 AM PDT by LogicDesigner

As drivers Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost approached one of the final turns, Prost — attempting to prevent Heidfeld from taking the lead — collided with him, sending Heidfeld's car flying over one of the track dividers.

Luckily, Heidfeld emerged from the crash looking mostly no worse for wear. But he immediately rushed over to confront Prost on the track, proving that the dangerous racing tradition of on-track bluster continues, despite last month's tragic accident involving Tony Stewart.

"I have a small pain in my calf," Heidfeld said in a statement on the Formula E website. "But apart from that, I'm perfectly fine."

Although the number of electric vehicles on the road versus gasoline-powered cars provide a small sample size when determining the relative safety of the two technologies, some studies are pointing to better post-crash safety with electric cars.

According to Insurance Journal, citing National Fire Protection Association data, of the 172,500 U.S. vehicle fires in 2012, which led to 300 fatalities, none of those accidents included an electric or hybrid vehicle.

Tesla founder Elon Musk echoed those sentiments in a statement on his website earlier this year. "The odds of fire in a Model S [an electric car], at roughly 1 in 8,000 vehicles, are five times lower than those of an average gasoline car," he wrote. "And when a fire does occur, the actual combustion potential is comparatively small."

(Excerpt) Read more at mashable.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: electriccar; electriccars; elonmusk; tesla
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To: LogicDesigner
With the two Volt fires, it took over a week for the battery to catch on fire, so I don’t think the risk is meaningful.

I never suggested it was.

Generally the fire starts outside the cabin

An F1 car doesn't have a "cabin". Where are all these batteries located, and just how are they made crash-worthy?

21 posted on 09/14/2014 8:37:48 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves" Month.)
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To: LogicDesigner

Can you explain that math? When I studied arithmetic none of the teachers were refugees from insane asylums so I don’t understand it.


22 posted on 09/14/2014 8:57:49 AM PDT by RipSawyer (OPM is the religion of the sheeple.)
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To: RipSawyer

6333 / 1350 = 4.7

That means 4.7 times as many fires in gasoline cars relative to electrics.

I’m not sure what the confusion is. Is it that he rounded 4.7 to 5?


23 posted on 09/14/2014 9:54:52 AM PDT by LogicDesigner
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To: LogicDesigner

The fact they have to point this out tells me a lot about electric cars!


24 posted on 09/14/2014 9:59:24 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: LogicDesigner

Formula E was like watching a golf cart race...BORING.

Yes I actually watched the last half of the race...big crash at the end...between golf carts...


25 posted on 09/14/2014 11:13:31 AM PDT by Crim (Palin / West '16)
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To: Crim
golf clap...

26 posted on 09/14/2014 11:15:45 AM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: LogicDesigner

Race speeds of up to 22 mph?

/kidding


27 posted on 09/14/2014 11:17:29 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: RipSawyer; LogicDesigner

I hope the comparison of car fires is actually comparing vehicles that are in some way comparable?

A new series of electric car against 30 year old rust buckets is not a real comparison. This is the reason I don’t take stats seriously.


28 posted on 09/14/2014 11:21:41 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse
“The fact they have to point this out tells me a lot about electric cars!”

Well, I think it is useful to point out. There has been a lot of misinformation put out there to scare people about electric cars. Most of it can be traced back to “news” sources with ties to oil billionaires and oil companies.

29 posted on 09/14/2014 12:56:13 PM PDT by LogicDesigner
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To: LogicDesigner

You’re kidding me, right? OK, I’ll bite and pretend that you don’t really understand my point.

Five times two is ten but two is NOT “five times less” than two OK? Two is one fifth of ten or four fifths less than ten, it is twenty percent of ten or eighty percent less than ten but it is NOT five times less or the even more absurd “five hundred percent less” that I am starting to see. That would mean that five hundred percent less and eighty percent less are the same thing. Is anyone really crazy enough to believe that?

There is no such thing as five times lower, five times smaller, five times less etc. If something is ten feet tall and you make it one times lower it is flat on the ground. If you had a hundred dollars yesterday and today you have five times less the only way that can have a meaning is that today you OWE four hundred. Five times less does not mean one fifth, five times lower does not mean one fifth as high. Five times less, five hundred percent less, all that kind of stuff sounds like the babbling of an idiot, they are all mathematical impossibilites unless you want to deal in negative numbers. If I had used such expressions in a fifth grade arithmetic class I would still be in the fifth grade.


30 posted on 09/14/2014 1:48:57 PM PDT by RipSawyer (OPM is the religion of the sheeple.)
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To: LogicDesigner

Most of it can be traced back to “news” sources with ties to oil billionaires and oil companies.


Oh...I get it. When someone rolls out the “Big Oil Boogey-Man” you know they’re a progressive-liberal. They also tend to be OCD about electric cars.


31 posted on 09/14/2014 1:52:51 PM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: Rides_A_Red_Horse
No, I just like to distinguish between real conservative issues and those that are fabricated by well-funded interests.

Electricity costs one-third what gasoline costs on a per-mile bases. Just think what a $25k electric car would do to the automotive market. If I was running a multi-billion dollar oil company, I would be throwing money left and right at any organization that would help instill fear, uncertainty, and doubt into the public’s perception of electric cars.

Just look at what they did with the Volt. The only two fires that have ever occurred were the result of crash tests and they both happened over a week after the test. Yet certain “conservative” news outlets have made it their crusade to convince people that they should be scared of driving a Volt.

I think the idea of running a car on American electricity, whether it comes from coal, natural gas, nuclear, whatever, is an extraordinarily good idea. Let's cut ourselves off from all the geopolitics associated with oil. I think any real conservative would see this as a good idea.

Unfortunately, there is way too much oil money poured into political campaigns and conservative think-tanks for anything but electric car bashing to result.

32 posted on 09/14/2014 3:09:18 PM PDT by LogicDesigner
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To: LogicDesigner

Do it without tax-dollar subsidies.

If your glorified golf-carts were as wonderful as you claim private investors would make it happen.


33 posted on 09/14/2014 3:13:10 PM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
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To: LogicDesigner
ol, the “plenty of sparks” was a reference to the two drivers getting into an argument after the crash.

I would have loved to have been on site to witness that nerd fight.........Let your imagination be your guide.....LOL!

34 posted on 09/14/2014 3:17:31 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Don't harsh my buzz bro......)
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To: RipSawyer
Can’t take people seriously when they use mathematical absurditites like five times lower.

Look nitpicker, the poster said “...at roughly 1 in 8,000 vehicles, are five times lower than those of an average gasoline car,”

It was simply a misprint. The poster meant to say that roughly 1 in 40,000 vehicles that have not yet been produced are five times lower than those of an average gasoline car.

I don't normally confuse myself, but when I do, I do a splendid job!

35 posted on 09/14/2014 8:58:25 PM PDT by houeto (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate)
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To: houeto

“I don’t normally confuse myself, but when I do, I do a splendid job!”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Yes you certainly do! I have no idea what that post is supposed to mean but if you don’t understand what I meant you can read my later post number 30. Simply put, five times less, five hundred percent less, five times lower etc. are mathematical ABSURDITY. Such expressions would have gotten me an F for the year in fifth grade. I don’t care that they are in common use now, they still make no sense.


36 posted on 09/15/2014 6:07:33 AM PDT by RipSawyer (OPM is the religion of the sheeple.)
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