Electric vehicles are exploding from water damage after Hurricane Ian, top Florida official warns

Fox News ^ | Oct. 7, 2022 | Thomas Catenacci

[Rennes Templar]

A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian.

EV batteries that have been waterlogged in the wake of the hurricane are at risk of corrosion, which could lead to unexpected fires, according to Jimmy Patronis, the state's top financial officer and fire marshal.

"There’s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start," Patronis tweeted Thursday. "That’s a new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before. At least on this kind of scale."

"It takes special training and understanding of EVs to ensure these fires are put out quickly and safely," he continued in a follow-up tweet. "Thanks to [North Collier Fire Rescue] for their hard work."

Patronis published a video of firefighters in Naples, Florida, battling a fire started from a Tesla EV's battery. A bystander is overheard in the video saying that the crew had used hundreds of gallons of water attempting to put the fire out.

Last week, Hurricane Ian pummeled cities along Florida's west coast including Naples and Fort Myers, making landfall as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane caused more than 100 deaths and over a million residents to lose power.

It is unclear how many EVs were impacted or destroyed by the storm.

Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly turning to EVs as the Biden administration continues to push a green transition involving zero-emission cars.

Between April and June, EVs accounted for 5.6% of new car purchases in the U.S., up slightly from the first three months of 2022, according to Kelley Blue Book.

[Revel]

EV’s are still a tiny fraction of total cars.

[SkyDancer]

[SaxxonWoods]

Ridiculous. I know you won’t admit it, but your argument, though used all the time, is ridiculous. It only took a few words above to explain the difference.

[DoughtyOne]

That’s true, but stats also reveal that EVs around a 0.03%
risk of igniting, and ICE cars have a 1.5% chance.

I’m not here to say the EVs aren’t problematic, it’s just
that I’m sick and tired of the pile on.

Both ICE cars and EVs have issues.

At 18 years of age, I watched an infant burn up in an ICE
vehicle that had been rear ended.

It burned so hot men couldn’t get close enough to the car
to open the door and pull the baby out, and there was the
danger of a significant explosion any second.

[COBOL2Java]

The disposal plan is to dump the worn out batteries in third-world countries.

With Obama and his comrades, that'll be us before long.

[EEGator]

Is that the Ernest Goes to Camp guy?

[MAGAthon]

from what I understand, it is the INTENSITY of the EV battery fires that poses a danger to firefighters and bystanders.

for years, there have been local media reports of the dangers faced by firefighters - and the special training they are required to do - as regards rooftop solar fires. rarely do those stories make it to the MAINSTREAM NATIONAL media.

as for an uptick in the purchase of EVs. how many are second vehicles (or third etc)?

[Revel]

That is .06 percent of all registered cars. Not counting all those sitting in back yards garages and junkyards. What is the percentage of EV’s catching fire?

[DoughtyOne]

The vast majority of fires in ICE cars are minor and not
hard to put out, and even the larger fires don’t require the
dangers, manhours and expense that all EV battery fires
cause.

Yeah, you won't admit it but there is a bit of ridiculous
in your posts also.

Not every EV fire results in massive manhours, expense,
and high level of dangers.

I have seen an infant die in an ICE vehicle with the flames
as high as the overhead pole at an intersection. It was
rear ended and burned so hot no one could get near enough
to the car to pull the kid out.

Both types of cars have their issues.

[BradyLS]

What about dirt or sand or some such? Can you starve an EV fire of oxygen that way? If you can, what about dump trucks on stand by with dirt and shovels?

I think this push for EVs is rotten. But it seems like manufacturers would need to be able to tell municipalities and owners what can be done when EVs catch fire.

[enduserindy]

Plan is he will replace DeSantis as he will be seeking federal office.

[dragonblustar]

Plus, they’re ugly cars too! Bring back those cars from the 50’s and 60’s!

[Revel]

I just die the math based on your number of 174,000 and I looked up and found the number of registered vehicles to be around 290 million in the US. Only 2 million EV’s less than 2 years ago.
The math shows more like .06%

You need to check your stats on EV’s too. Because there is no way they have less fires as a total percentage as Ice Cars.

And ICE car fires don’t take thousands of gallons of water to put out, and they don’t even come close to same environmental damage during the burn. If you catch a breath of an EV fire there is a possibility it can kill you outright in a very short time. And the chemicals that leak into the environments are just horrible. Many of them going very deep into the ground water. Most ICE fires are going to be put out in mere moments.

[DoughtyOne]

This may help.

I hate when I find some information and then can’t refind it.

This report gives fires per 100,000 vehicles sold. That’s
not the way I’d like to see the numbers reported out, but
it’s what I came up with just now.

https://insideevs.com/news/561549/study-evs-smallest-fire-risk/

[Rennes Templar]

I have heard that Trump and DeSantis have secret agreement for 2024.

[DoughtyOne]

I just gave you a link to an article that touches on numbers
of fires per 100,000 sales in each category, ICE, EV, and
hybrid.

Hybrids did the worst, followed by ice, and then EVs.

I did look at more than one article, and they seemed to
agree on the overall gust of this.

If you can find an article that contrasts with these
numbers, post a link.

Thanks.

There are going to be reports that see to prove the
point of the ICE advocates and then the EV side of things.

[Paal Gulli]

...Do we read hundreds of reports about them all year long as if it’s something very unusual?...

Read much?

The headline doesn't say "EVs are catching fire," Sparky, it says "EVs are EXPLODING from water...."

Lithium-powered vaping pens EXPLODE.
Lithium-powered flashlights EXPLODE.
Lithium-powered laptop computers EXPLODE.
Lithium-powered phones EXPLODE.

Are you seeing the pattern here?

Your car catching fire sucks. Your car EXPLODING is suckage on steroids.

As to the question you posed (and then answered incorrectly), "Do we read hundreds of reports about them all year long as if it’s something very unusual?", the CORRECT answer is YES!, the press reports it dutifully every time the car catches fire because it got wet. Or while it was sitting still, parked and switched off. Or if it burns for days on end. Or if it takes tens of thousands of gallons of water to extinguish.

YES, it gets reported EVERY TIME it happens.
It just nothing much apart BEVs meets those conditions.

And lets not overlook the fact that an (uncontained) gasoline fire only gets to about 500°F, about the same temperature as a charcoal grill. Lithium burns about 3500°F, 7x as hot, hot enough to melt aluminum and steel. The collateral risks posed by a lithium battery fire are VASTLY greater than those from a gasoline fire.

Did you every hear of a cargo ship bringing ICE-powered Asian or European-made cars to America sinking because the fuel in the cars caught fire? NO, because IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED. For one thing, they're prepared for ICE-car fires because THEY'RE EXTINGUISHABLE.

But when the Felicity Ace sank in March of this year, along with +/-4000 luxury European automobiles, it sank because there is no practical ship-board method for extinguishing a lithium BEV fire. There was nothing could be done except abandon ship and wait for the fires to run their course. And because lithium fires burn hot enough to melt steel, it was just a matter of time until the ship's hull failed and she sank.

Lithium battery fires did this. And once they got started, they could not be stopped.

[minnesota_bound]

First you run out of power escaping from the hurricane blocking traffic and endangering many other people escaping in gas powered cars then you get shocked or electrocuted getting out of the electric vehicle in the flood waters then your electric vehicle catches fire from the shorting battery. Then you find out the insurance company will not pay out.

[EastTexasTraveler]

“Your new EV doubles as an IED.”

Good point.

[Dr. Sivana]

There were 174,000 vehicle fires in 2021.

I have had two such fires. The first was a 1973 Dodge Dart with a weak oil pump. Things got too hot, small fire in engine, block cracked, but the rest of the car was okay as gas tank was in rear. Threw in a used slant-six for $300 and was riding again.

The second fire was a Grand Marquis, also under the hood. I was warned there were engine issues and was pondering a rebuild of the 4.6. No overheating, but smoke started coming into the cabin. It was early AM, and I was in a store parking lot, someone called the fire department, but eventually the whole car caught fire, with flames shooting 30 feet high. The car was a burned out husk.

Both cars were older and had known issues. The fires were also easy to put out.