Posted on 07/07/2021 11:10:09 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods
A Chevrolet electric vehicle owned by Vermont state Rep. Timothy Briglin recently caught fire while charging in the politician’s driveway, according to Vermont State Police. The fire is the most recent to highlight an ongoing concern of automakers and vehicle safety watchdogs as companies release an influx of new EVs.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
“Right, very few fire departments have the foam that works better on those fires.”
Foam is not recommended for Li-ion battery fires.
You mentioned Obama. Didn’t he claim he was definitely going to buy one of those GM electric cars when he toured the facility?
Wonder how many are sitting in his garages in DC and Martha’s Vinyard?
Dubai had a crash that is said to have been due to lithium batteries. South African Airways had one too.
True, but gasoline fires are relatively easy to extinguish and rarely explode or reignite as Lithium EV batteries do.
Fire codes in all new construction typically require type X or fire code 5/8” drywall between a garage and living space. In addition any door going between a garage and the household has to be a 90 minute fire rated steel door with steel frames/door jambs.
Sept. 3 2010 UPS air flight 6 in Dubai-Cologne , poorly wrapped lithium batteries ignited in flight.
So, lithium is a naturally very reactive metal. If you put a small piece of lithium in a bowl of water, like we did in high school, it will skitter around on the surface, as it ignites upon contact with the water.
In a battery, the lithium is combined with phosphorous and stuff, and sandwiched between extremely thin metal (aluminum?) plates, much like the plates in your old school lead acid battery. But instead of being like a stacked PB&J sandwich, it’s more like baklava. Lots of very thin plates, and very thin layers.
So, in an impact or puncture situation, it’s very easy for these layers to be pushed, squished, punched into contact with each other. What you then get is a short circuit. The battery heats up and ignites. Imagine putting steel wool across the terminals of a 9v battery, except with a whole lot more power.
Suddenly, what you now have is a very hot metal fire, featuring lithium, aluminum, phosphorous, all the good stuff, all in one very nice package.
Yay!
Bad stuff, that.
And yet I play with lithium batteries for hobby purposes (model airplanes, etc). They’re fun and safe, but you have to be very careful with them, because they will burn your (house/car/etc) down.
There’s a lot more left of that burned-out Bolt than there is for any burned-out Tesla. Tesla seems to leave nothing but puddles of molten aluminum on the ground.
When they are just sitting around? When they are being fueled?
Good point, most ICE vehicles that catch fire while being fueled do so because of operator error, not a design defect. Also, the "sales pitch" for PEVs has included unattended charging ("off-peak", lower-priced charging late at night, etc.) from the beginning. If unattended charging is ever seen as a significant danger, the entire house of cards topples.
—” A lot of flames there and a lot of victims to pull out from underneath with three seconds to spare for Ponch and Jon.”
Almost every police chase looks like a test of GM side-saddle tanks and Pintos?
Why should EVs be any different?
Or he was washing the car when the batteries shorted > ZAP!
I suspect most car fires are a result of fuel filters being replaced and not seal properly. Gas drips and a fire occurs.
Very SMART of him to not park his pyrotechnic device in the garage as it could have taken down his house.
The best part was the little ping sound right before the explosion.
“The best part was the little ping sound right before the explosion.”
More of a ‘ting’. And the look on the faces of the people involved...knowing just what’s next for a Pinto that gets hit in the license plate.
True. With an EV, it’s more difficult to know whether there’s any dangerous power still stored in whatever of the battery remains; it can neither be assumed to be safely contained, nor safely dissipated.
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