Posted on 06/21/2021 12:09:08 PM PDT by Hojczyk
But all is not well in electric car land. The nation’s firefighters are now banding together in an attempt to develop training for how to handle the resultant fire when one of these Teslas or other electric cars gets into a high-speed crash and bursts into flames. The problem is that despite not having a tank full of gasoline, electric cars burn longer and more fiercely than automobiles with internal combustion engines. That leads to significant challenges and dangers for first responders. One of them who was interviewed for a report on the subject from NBC news described the cars as being like on of those trick birthday candles that you can never blow out.
So just how bad was the Tesla fire mentioned in the article? Eight firefighters spend seven hours battling the recurring blaze. They used up 28,000 gallons of water, which is more than the department normally uses in an entire month. By comparison, the study notes that the average vehicular fire involving gas-powered vehicles generally uses less than 300 gallons of water and can be extinguished rapidly.
The cause of all this fire and frenzy is the gigantic battery system used in these vehicles. Damaged banks of lithium-ion batteries contain a lot of residual energy and can keep driving up the temperature (and reigniting everything around them) for many hours. There is currently no official training for how to deal with these fires. Tesla’s own first responder’s guide only advises firefighters to “use lots of water.”
Fire hazards aren’t the only concerns being raised over these batteries. Even the New York Times identified massive numbers of lithium-ion batteries as being an environmental catastrophe in the making.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Shocking.
A story posted here the other day recounted a Tesla fire that required 28,000 gallons of water to extinguish.
I would guess that the proper way to deal with them is the same way they deal with magnesium fires.
Billions of gallons of gasoline on the roads in car tanks and they don’t ignite as often as electric cars......................Green energy is killing us!................
Easy fix. Tax electric cars with the proceeds going to fire departments. Tax them enough to cover their messes with no loss to the FDs.
BMK.
Wife and I drove by a fire in what looked like a Transit. I suspected an electric car fire. I don’t know if there is an electric that looks like a transit. The road we take home was closed. This was right next to the Acton, MA, reservoir off corner of Nashoba Road and Great Road, for people familiar with the area.
These cars are a menace to us, outlaw them.
They need to to develop a high current, fireproof grounding blanket.
encapsulate and starve of oxygen maybe?
Author is not a firefighter for sure.
A Tesla battery is Cadmium/Nickel/Manganate, and burns as a metal when exposed to air, and needs to be prosecuted as a Class D fire. Best way to extinguish a class D fire is to smother it to deprive it of atmospheric oxygen. Pouring water on a hot metal fire causes the water to dissociate into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. making the fire burn even better. Magnesium and Sodium fires for example are special ...
You CAN extinguish a Class D fire with oodles of water, but you’d better be good, and patient.
Anyone remember the Chevy Corvair?
Where is Ralph Nader when you need him?
“USE WATER TO FIGHT A HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY FIRE. If the battery catches fire, is exposed to high heat, or is generating heat or gases, use large amounts of
water to cool the battery. It can take between approximately 3,000- 8,000 gallons (11,356- 30,283 liters) of water, applied directly to the battery, to fully extinguish and cool down a battery fire; always establish or request additional water supply
early. If water is not immediately available, use CO2, dry chemicals, or another typical fire-extinguishing agent to fight the fire until water is available.”
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/2016_Model_S_Emergency_Response_Guide_en.pdf
Firefighters are well-trained because they spend lots of time in training.
In the early days of automobiles, garages were built far away from the house.
By the 1920’s, the attached garage was becoming common.
In 1964, while eating dinner, my family watched a VW burn on the highway. It is my understanding the driver was burned to death.
In 1993, a car caught fire in the housing development where I was living. The driver was not injured.
My thinking too
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