Wouldn’t the drilling cause friction? Therefore, fire or explosion?
Tanks are plastic now.
tanks are for the most part plastic now.
ethanol is nasty stuff and will eat a metal tank.
takes less than 30 seconds to drill a tank
(we recycle cars and part of the process is draining the tank)
Friction isn’t going to cause a fire or explosion on its own. It might generate some heat, but it’s not likely going to be hot enough to cause a spontaneous ignition.
Gas needs a very specific air-fuel mixture in order to explode, so it is actually pretty rare for that to happen. Plus, there’s no fumes where you’re drilling, you drill on the outside, into the part where the fuel is liquid. Gas’s explosive limits are around 1.4% to 7.6%, which means light fumes won’t explode, and heavy fumes won’t either. EPA rules put most gasoline blends at a max vapor pressure of 7.5psi, which means most gas will hit an air mixture of about 25-30%, so that means most gas just sitting won’t have immediately explosive fumes.
And, drilling metal might cause some sparks, but even if it does, those sparks are on the outside, where the gas isn’t. By the time the gas starts leaking out, you aren’t drilling anymore and so there’s no more spark risk.