Posted on 02/24/2022 4:42:17 PM PST by Jacquerie
Unlike the Pinto, you don’t have to get hit — or hit anything — for an electric car to burn. The things can, and have, caught fire when parked. Actually, “caught” is not the right word to describe what happens.
Spontaneous combustion is better.
That’s because of the nature and design of electric car batteries, which are not like the small 12-volt battery that starts the engine of a non-electric car. That battery is generally lead-acid, and fires are rare because a fire would require two things: a spark — as caused by jumper cables contacting the battery’s terminals — and leaking hydrogen gas. If both of those predicates aren’t present, a 12-volt starter battery fire is highly improbable.
You can break the case of a 12-volt starter battery, and it will leak — but not burn.
Electric car batteries, on the other hand, are very high-voltage batteries — 400 volts is typical; 800 volts is becoming common — and they are fire-prone by design.
A process called thermal runaway can trigger a fire without a spark — or an impact. This most commonly happens when the electric car is being charged, and it is why electric car fast-charging is always a potential fire problem.
With every electric car.
This is why “fast” recharging is slow compared to refueling, which takes less than five minutes without any risk of fire from the pumping of fuel. But the “pumping” of volts is always a fire risk; it causes the battery to get hot; that can lead to a very hot and hard-to-extinguish fire.
Sometimes it takes several tries to extinguish the fire, which can restart itself. Roasted electric vehicles have re-roasted themselves after the hulk was dragged onto a flatbed where special fire-containment systems were installed to deal with this problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
I’m NOT setting my carport on fire with one of those things.
Uh…what were you contradicting?
Actually they aren’t.
Despite all the movies showing all cars that suffer accidents/deliberate crashes as blowing up/catching fire in a big inferno, it’s not nearly like that.
You’d think you’re doomed to fire if you’re in a crash. But rarely does it happen. And when it does it’s usually a contained small fire.
IIRC Tesla toyed with that idea.
But don’t trust my memory!
or only allow one row of electric cars across the bow and stern of a ferry.
If one catches fire, shove it off.
If the owner it trapped inside, he is going to die anyway.
Which Ford car do you have now? ;)
I would guess that a detached EV garage will be selling feature for new homes.
It's not the voltage that kills you, it's the amperage.
The Telsa idiots say the best way to put out one of their cars when it's burning is with “...copious amounts of water....”
And practical experience has shown that "copious" turns out to be on the order of tens of thousands of gallons, over a period of days.
Which means you aren't so much as putting out the fire as limiting you are keeping it contained while it burns itself out.
Plus they state the firemen should be wearing hazmat suits and self-contained breathing apparatus. In other words, they should dress like they were putting out Chernobyl.
Progressives are pleased with anything that has the potential to depopulate or destroy. It’s inheritant, from their father, the devil himself.
Rule #1: Never charge the car inside the garage. Get a 75-100ft charging cord to reach the car, parked well away from the house and garage.
Rule #2: Do not park the car inside, overnight. Leave it outside, well away from the house/garage structure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.