Electric Bus in U.K. 'Clean Air Zone' Burns Uncontrollably, Sending Toxic Black Smoke Into the Air

Rumble Via Liberty Daily ^ | 9 October 2023 | Staff

[dfwgator]

Breath deep the air of green energy.

Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day's useless energy is spent
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and suckles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young
Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is grey and yellow-white

But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

[BigFreakinToad]

thats pretty good, is that yours??

[dfwgator]

Moody Blues.

[fireman15]

I think it was actually a diesel bus.

I am assuming that you are joking.

The headline said, "Electric Bus in U.K. 'Clean Air Zone' Burns Uncontrollably, Sending Toxic Black Smoke Into the Air"

Despite the fact that battery powered electric busses are a relatively new phenomena they have been catching on fire all over the world. Paris suspended their use in April of 2022 because of several fires that completely destroyed several buses.

Ironically most fires that are not caused by passengers on diesel buses are from electrical shorts. However, when some type of fire occurs on a diesel bus it typically is put out without much if any fanfare.

This is because if you toss a match into a puddle of diesel oil it will go out. This is opposed to a large lithium-based rechargeable battery which can spontaneously burst into flames while being charged, discharged, or is just sitting around.

[Lurker]

It exploded with the power of 10,000,000,000 butterfly sneezes.

L

[kaktuskid]

Oh noes...the Pandas are gonna catch fire!

[AppyPappy]

The headline was from Rumble. X had a correction to the electric bus story

[AppyPappy]

From X
https://twitter.com/leslibless/status/1711576407623524514

[fireman15]

The headline was from Rumble. X had a correction to the electric bus story

I am not sure why you and people posting on X believe that the additional information was meaningful, other than to remind people that lithium-type rechargeable batteries of the size in this fire which was larger than those found in most electric cars can be very dangerous and difficult to extinguish.

The rechargeable lithium type battery in the “hybrid bus” that caught on fire was 85KW with a 45kW reserve. This is larger than most batteries found in electric cars... and obviously capable of causing horrendous fires that can be very difficult to extinguish. Was it more likely to fail from the probably very large and abrupt charging current that it was receiving repeatedly from the bus's regenerative braking system as compared to an electric car? Very possibly. Was it easier to extinguish than an electric car fire? Obviously not. It was a complete and total spectacular loss that basically burned until there was nothing left.

The interesting thing to me is how quickly the powers that be jumped all over this story in an attempt to discredit this example of total “green energy” folly. It does not make a bit of difference whether it was a “plug-in” bus or a “hybrid”. The battery failed, the bus was completely destroyed, and it was a miracle that more damage was not done to exposures.

During my career my crews and I extinguished diesel powered semi-trucks and buses that were on fire many times. The difference was that they all went out almost immediately when water was sprayed on them.

[AppyPappy]

Because people have a habit of posting things without bothering to determine of they are true

This bus fire happened in Bradford city
bbc.com/news/uk-englan…
itv.com/news/calendar/…

This bus is “Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid”, which uses a diesel engine combined with a regenerative braking system to power “interior lights and compressed air systems”

bustimes.org/vehicles/fbra-…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_St…

https://twitter.com/leslibless/status/1711576407623524514

[fireman15]

This bus is “Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid”, which uses a diesel engine combined with a regenerative braking system to power “interior lights and compressed air systems”

It is not at all clear from the links that you have provided that this was the exact model of bus that was involved in the fire. The “records” which supposedly prove the model of bus involved are ambiguous at best. This morning some of the information that was available yesterday about the bus that caught on fire seems to have been “scrubbed”. This indicates to me that some sort of cover-up is likely in play. There are several models of Wright StreetDeck buses all of which look nearly identical.

https://wrightbus.com/

The link that you provided from X

https://twitter.com/leslibless/status/1711576407623524514

has links within it which are either no longer working or in no way prove the statement made, “The claim that the vehicle is an electric vehicle is false”

If you follow the link within your X link:

https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/VehicleFound?locale=en

and enter the registration number MD71EOF it comes back with this information:

Vehicle Details
Vehicle make WRIGHTBUS
Date of first registration January 2022
Year of manufacture 2022
Cylinder capacity 5132 cc
CO₂ emissions 0 g/km
Fuel type DIESEL
Euro status EURO 6
Real Driving Emissions (RDE) Not available
Automated vehicle (AV) No
Export marker No
Vehicle status Taxed
Vehicle colour MULTI-COLOUR
Vehicle type approval M3
Wheelplan 2 AXLE RIGID BODY
Revenue weight 18468 kg
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued 21 January 2022

You may notice that the model of the bus was not provided. You will also notice that the CO₂ emissions listed are 0 g/km which indicates that this was not a diesel powered bus. This indicates that this was an electric powered bus. The diesel engine in many street liner buses is a 4 cylinder 5.1L diesel. My assumption is that the person filling out the electronic form for this registration record could not get past the blanks for engine size and type without entering some type of erroneous information. The entire time that I worked for a government agency as a fire officer I had to enter similar erroneous information in computer forms to complete my work.

But whether the bus was all electric, or some type of diesel/electric hybrid is irrelevant. And your statement that you are concerned that “people have a habit of posting things without bothering to determine if they are true” should also apply to you. What effort did you make to verify the greenie efforts to confuse the facts in this situation? If you follow the links the BS from a supposed government source actually did not prove anything at all since the same form indicates that the bus has CO₂ emissions of “0 g/km”.

The battery was the apparent cause of the fire and also the reason that it was so difficult to extinguish. It is interesting that the shrill and misleading responses from green energy advocates is that this was not an electric vehicle... this was a “hybrid”. When in fact a “hybrid” typically is a subset of electric vehicles.

It makes no difference to firefighters the method that a large lithium based rechargeable battery is recharged. Are you claiming that you do not believe that this spectacular fire in a designated area where supposedly no vehicles emitting CO₂ are allowed was not a fire from a large lithium based rechargeable battery?

[fireman15]

I would like to point out that the reason that these types of fires are so difficult to control is because lithium is a COMBUSTIBLE SOLID which is WATER REACTIVE. Applying water to a burning lithium based battery can cause it to explode. Lithium particulate from this type of explosion can SPONTANEOUSLY IGNITE in AIR. They are tough fires to put out and in many cases the problem is solved by somehow transporting the still burning vehicle to a safer location and just letting it burn until there is nothing left.