Posted on 10/28/2026 6:04:14 PM PDT by george76
Hayward looks to be about two-thirds of the way up the I-880 if you were heading north to Oakland from San Jose. So, yeah - this had some sincere traffic impacts.
All lanes of Interstate 880 in Hayward are open Wednesday morning after an electric Tesla semitruck caught fire on the freeway during the Tuesday evening commute.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the fire was first reported in the southbound direction of the freeway between Winton Avenue and the Highway 92 interchange around 5:35 p.m. Officials closed the freeway in both directions due to the potential risk of hazardous chemical smoke.
And, man - what a fire.
...
Miraculously, the driver got out in one piece, and he said he had no idea what started it. All he knew was that his truck was suddenly on fire
...
.According to the CHP, the semi's lithium battery flames were incredibly difficult to extinguish.
The trucks driver only told patrol officers that the rig simply caught fire and didn't know why.
By the time the fire departments got the thing under control, you could see that there was little to nothing left of the cab. It melted down like a wet witch in a castle corner.
...
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) closed both directions due to the risk of hazardous chemical smoke. Northbound reopened at about 8:40 p.m.
- CHP said the battery fire could burn for 15–18 hours, and southbound would stay closed until it was out and the truck was safe to remove.
- No injuries were reported and no other vehicles were involved. The driver said the truck simply caught fire. The cause is under investigation.
Obviously, the cause is under investigation, and Pat from StacheD Training says they may never know what happened. There is so little left of the cab that it's going to be nearly impossible for investigators to pinpoint the reason it started, and once you hear about the size of the batteries in these things, that explains that.
Pat says depending on the model truck, it would have three battery packs, which 'roughly equate' to the batteries in seven to eight Tesla Model Y's.
...
The CHP said they needed the fire consuming the Tesla’s lithium ion battery cells to be fully extinguished before they re-opened the freeway.
Authorities diverted traffic off the freeway at Winton Avenue.
In a social media post, the CHP warned drivers to “expect extreme delays and use alternative routes if possible.”
...
A similar fire happened in 2024 when a Tesla Semi crashed on Interstate 80 near Emigrant Gap, about 70 miles northeast of Sacramento. The freeway was closed for about 15 hours while firefighters made sure the batteries were cool enough to recover the truck.
Tesla's getting kind of beaten up here, too, because they're the best-known ones who have these operating on the roads right now. Tesla lovers are sensitive to the fact that the name brand is in the headlines, where it probably wouldn't be were it any other manufacturer on earth. And it was easy to prove their point.
Here's a recent garbage truck fire headline. This vehicle fire also closed a major thoroughfare for a significant period, but good luck finding out who built the garbage truck.
Fresno crews battle electric garbage truck fire; road closure result
No, the problem isn't 'Tesla.' This name-checking in headlines is the media pounding Musk any way they can.
The problem is the technology to fight these fires hasn't kept up with what the vehicles are now capable of. Shoot - it hasn't kept up with putting out a spontaneous e-bike battery fire.
When one burning truck shuts down everything around it for half a day, if not longer, and uses up ten to twenty times the valuable resources to (hopefully) extinguish it, with legitimate concerns afterward about toxic chemical residues and fumes, etc., that's the problem.
It shouldn't be up to fire departments to figure it out on the fly, either.
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“... Shuts Down I-880 South of Oakland for 10 Hours...”
That’s not long enough.
Here’s a suggestion on how to deal with this issue. 1) Insurance companies either refuse to insure electric center or charge premiums that are sufficient to cover the claims filed due to, (2) the responding emergency services charging the operator of the electric semis for all expenses incurred in the dealing with the situation. That would include hazard waste disposal and, (3) claims filed by all those affected by either lost time waiting for 10 hours and/or exposure to toxic fumes.
———————
There is a weight capacity of trucks depending upon the number of axils.
Each axil has a maximum weight allowed.
A 18 wheeler has a maximum gross weight of 80k lbs without special permits.
Add onto the pile of ALL THE ELECTRIC BUSSES that were purchased (with taxpayer grants) that failed immediately and parts and repair base was never ready?....How much bull - it cash was grifted there?......crickets
Does the semi use Lithium ion batteries or the safer Lithium iron phosphate?
“It’s been electric,
decidedly hectic”
Thank you
Politicians wasting our money .
Jackson buys 8 Electric Buses for Transit System, But None Are Working .. A transit system run by the town of Jackson and Teton County set out to replace its diesel buses with electric, but none of the eight electric buses in its fleet are running, and the company that made them went bankrupt.
I think they all put their hair up in a man bun, grabbed their European man bags, and left for good.
Uhhh. I believe the states have RULES about GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight), and they don’t care WHAT you’re powered by. If you’re overweight, you pay the fine.
“Not to mention running electric heaters to keep those things warm inside on cold winter days.”
I know that at least some of the electric school buses use diesel for their heaters.
Is it too late for the Who to do a new version of Magic Bus?
“Electric Bus.”
“Jump out of the windows,
all of us,
it’s up in flames,
the Electric Bus.”
Figures
Yep
Yeah, buses that are EV can use regenerative braking and get back much, maybe most, of their battery energy when stopping. But that doesn’t work with heating, once you use the battery energy, it’s never coming back...hence you need the much more energy dense source, that being diesel, of course.
The battery specs I’m seeing work out to about a 175 mile range per ton of battery, so for a 135-mile range the battery would be a little more than three quarters of a ton.
And unlike a diesel fuel tank, it doesn’t get lighter as the fuel is expended. It weighs 1500 lbs whether it’s full or empty. So if it’s an 80,000-lb truck, your battery is almost 19% of your mgvw.
There’s talk of an EV tractor with a 2500 mile range but it would need a 30,000-lb battery, which I find insane. That’s almost the weight of a Class 8 truck. Battery and tractor together would have to weigh 60,000 lbs, meaning all you’ve got is 20,000 lbs for payload.
Since it’s practice to keep roads closed until deemed safe, think how bad actors could weaponize that policy to bottle up chokepoints with intentionally blazing up these vehicles?
I totally agree about the insurance issues. We’re one major disaster away from state legislatures passing laws making EV trucks and truck companies strictly liable for road damage and economic losses (business damage from road delays) caused by EV truck battery fires.
I totally agree about the insurance issues. We’re one major disaster away from state legislatures passing laws making EV trucks and truck companies strictly liable for road damage and economic losses (business damage from road delays) caused by EV truck battery fires.
“Officials closed the freeway in both directions.” Brutal. Unreasonable, since drivers zoom past the burning truck quickly.
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