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Are Electric Cars An Explosion Risk?
Investor's Business Daily ^ | Nobember 15, 2011 | IBD staff

Posted on 11/23/2011 5:39:27 PM PST by raptor22

Environmental Impacts: An investigation is launched into the possibility of battery fires occurring in crashes involving Government Motors' touted electric car. Industrial policy meets the law of unintended consequences.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced an investigation into the safety of electric cars using lithium batteries, particularly the Chevy Volt, after a battery fire occurred after a side-impact crash test.

It has asked other manufacturers who make electric cars or that plan to do so for information on how they handle lithium-ion batteries. The request also includes recommendations for minimizing fire risk. The feds say this is only precautionary and there is no indication of widespread risk. GM insists the Volt is safe.

The fire didn't break out in the test vehicle until three weeks after the crash. GM says there have been no reports from consumers of battery problems, and the feds say they've been unable to duplicate the fire problem.

But the cumulative road experience of the brand-new and poorly selling vehicle has been limited.

The Volt fire was severe enough to burn vehicles parked nearby. In the crash test, metal punctured the battery.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial
KEYWORDS: chevyvolt; electriccars; electricedsel; gm; governmentmotors; greenenergy; highwaysafety; ibd; ibdchevyvolt; industrialpolicy; nhtsa; obamacar; voltfire; voltfires; voltfraud
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I have a cousin who bought a used four-year-old Honda Insight. She has no idea that the battery pack will have to be replaced someday.

But hey, the used car salesman made her a really great deal! /sarc


21 posted on 11/23/2011 7:02:44 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: raptor22

bttt


22 posted on 11/23/2011 7:14:26 PM PST by deweyfrank
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To: Army Air Corps

Have you clued her in yet? How much is a replacement battery pack for the Insight?


23 posted on 11/23/2011 7:17:46 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I have, but she is one of those folks who believes that she knows more than everyone else about everything.


24 posted on 11/23/2011 7:21:59 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Venturer

All kinds of resources are available for first responder, thanks for asking. I an equipment operator on a fire department and don’t have to deal directly with the hazards. The other things that have to be delt with on modern cars are all the devices including rams and gas cylinders related to the various airbags now hidden in cars.


25 posted on 11/23/2011 7:43:54 PM PST by UB355 (Slower traffic keep right)
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To: raptor22
"after a fire occurred after a side-impact crash."

The idiot-media LOVES the word "after". It allows them to imply causation without ever having to provide any evidence.

26 posted on 11/23/2011 8:22:46 PM PST by Onelifetogive (I tweet, too... @Onelifetogive)
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To: Army Air Corps

Let’s see what happens when she receives that $1300.00+ bill for the battery.


27 posted on 11/23/2011 9:20:39 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Army Air Corps

That might be just for the battery. Labor will probably take it to $2,000.00 or more.


28 posted on 11/23/2011 9:22:32 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Correct, and from the automotive blogs I have read, there are two computers that you replace when you replace the battery; the computers are not cheap either.


29 posted on 11/23/2011 9:25:47 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Army Air Corps

That’s an easy $500 right there! Can’t wait for the know-it-all to really know it all about the battery and computer replacement. You should post a thread about this when it happens so we can all get a good laugh.


30 posted on 11/23/2011 9:39:15 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: raptor22

Hybrids are the biggest of all the “Green” hype. The batteries are manufactured in China because the process is so poisonously dirty it is illegal to produce them in the States. Out the gate Hybrids are so far in the dirty hole that they cannot make up for it in their serviceable lifetime. My 2012 Ford Fiesta kicks Prius ass at a measly 38.1 mpg combined. Oh yeah, one final musing:

BE AMERICAN, BUY AMERICAN! TO HELL WITH FOREIGN IMPORTS!


31 posted on 11/23/2011 9:40:19 PM PST by Birdsbane ("Onward through the fog!" ... Oat Willie)
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To: The Antiyuppie

I heard a safety guy say the other day that the Volt in question had been used in a crash test and that the safety protocols after a crash ( which include draining the batteries) was not done! So the thing caught fire three weeks after the crash. Sounds as though someone screwed up. At any rate, are you happy sleeping over a car with twenty gallons of gas in it?


32 posted on 11/23/2011 10:07:10 PM PST by vette6387 (Enough Already!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
If this can happen to a laptop think of how large an explosion can occur with a car!

As of a couple of years ago, you cannot put a laptop in with checked luggage because of the explosion hazard when you fly.

33 posted on 11/24/2011 4:53:22 AM PST by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: raptor22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d3OayJbxn4

Guess what, everyone? For all your driving life, you have been sitting on a tank of explosives.


34 posted on 11/24/2011 7:22:04 AM PST by doug from upland (Just in case, it has been reserved: www.TheBitchIsBack2012.com)
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