Posted on 08/08/2022 12:48:53 PM PDT by george76
One day after officials touted the passage of the Connecticut Clean Air Act, including plans for thousands of electric vehicles to hit the road, one of the state-run electric buses caught on fire over the weekend.
The blaze engulfed a CTtransit bus in a Hamden parking lot Saturday morning, sending two workers and a firefighter to the hospital, officials said.
“Lithium ion battery fires are difficult to extinguish due to the thermal chemical process that produces great heat and continually reignites,” Hamden fire officials said.
Two transit workers were hospitalized as a precaution after being exposed to the smoke. A firefighter was also taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion, officials said.
The bus was delivered in December and began service in January, CTtransit spokesperson Josh Rickman said.
“The bus, last operated on July 20, on routes 243 and 265, and was not in service at the time of the incident,” Rickman said. “Bus fires are rare, but can occur similar to cars. This is CTtransit’s first fire incident with a battery electric bus. Bus operators, maintenance staff and others undergo extensive training and safety protocols are in place.”
As a result of the fire, the electric bus fleet was pulled from service as a precaution, Rickman said.
“The importance of rider safety is demonstrated by taking these buses out of service and ensuring a thorough investigation is completed prior to any redeployment of the fleet,” Rickman said. “We have deployed diesel buses to make sure people get to where they need to be.”
The Saturday fire came one day after state officials gathered in New Haven, including Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe Giulietti, Gov. Ned Lamont, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes, to boast the success of the Clean Air Act that would restrict diesel vehicles and increase electric cars in the state.
“There are approximately 800 buses that we are responsible for at the DOT that are being replaced with no-emissions electric models. They’re quieter, they emit no emissions and they last longer,” Giulietti said Friday.
In addition to the electric state-run buses, public school buses will also shift to electric models, according to the governor’s statement. The Clean Air Act will also prohibit the procurement of diesel-powered buses after 2023, according to the statement.
The bus fire in Hamden is still under investigation, DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said.
“The first battery electric buses came into service in the fall of 2020,” Morgan said. “Today, there are 12 electric buses in Connecticut, and approximately 50 planned to be ordered.”
The first electric buses were placed in the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority in fall 2020, with plans for three more, according to DOT.
The Bus Electrification Project, a partnership among DOT, DEEP and CTtransit, includes plans for electric public transit buses to be added across the state in the next few years. Twelve battery buses will go to New Haven and Stamford service areas, 10 in Waterbury and three in the University of Connecticut and Windham area.
School busses? Holy crap! I really hope we don’t have one of those catch fire with a load of kids!
We had a 3 family game here in n. California.
To be considered, you had to see and identify a Chevy Bolt.
I won with 2 Bolts versus 0 seen in 2 years by the other family members!
The contest died due to extreme Boredom.
Put the battery [smaller] on a trailer with a motor-gen set of small size [and a quick disconnect hitch].
Problem solved.
“...made from guess what.”
Flubber?
Note that Yale can’t fix New Haven.
“Not sure if lithium was discovered when I took chemistry.”
Known but very dangerous to let students play with in the school labs.
In HS we did get to play with Sodium. Fun times. A learning experience...
#4 There is a Chinese bus company called BYD that has bribed many politicians here in the USA like Gavin Newsom in California. When he was mayor of San Francisco the buses could not get up the hills and broke down many times.
Type in at Yahoo then go to Images: laptop battery swelling
Scary as that is a big fire soon to happen!
Do a search on cell phone battery fires and laptop battery fires
At the Help Desk I worked at we have many calls over the years.
I had a co-worker whose headset battery was swelling!
Now imagine the batteries swelling in a electric vehicle then WHOOSH!
Your home or apt and probably you too gone!
I had an iPhone battery expand until it pushed the screen off the Al case.
No heat nor fire though.
Installed a new battery and still works fine.
French electric cars
https://i.imgur.com/XABDHDr.png
About a decade ago we had a major overhaul done on our home.
Even then, the local nazis, who enforce local/California building codes were pushing to install solar crud when you had to replace your roof.
Our roofer was able to convince the inspector that by having our carport ready for solar but not yet installed he could get a waiver.
So we did it and our carport with the exception of the wiring/output connections is ready to have a solar system put on it.
A significant issue came up quickly. A neighbor had a similar garage roof like our carport. They had the same roofer install their new solar system. Then, they bought a hybrid and they soon discovered the solar system only worked during good daylight hours to recharge their battery. (duh)
Then, the vehicle could barely make it down and back home to the hospital and Outpatient clinic. A clinic they had to use often down and back without using gas,(24 mile round trip).
If they got back home at dark or before, they had to use PG&E to recharge their battery for the next day. The lady who owns the hybrid loves it. Her older husband hates it.
He doesn’t want to plan his life around a solar charging system to power his car.
I know nothing about these vehicles except after a good glass of wine, many of the local owners are not that happy about their EV’s.
Also, when a certain # of EV’s was reached on our culdesac, PG&E had to put in an extra power pole which almost ended up in my yard, before I said hell no!
My snotty neighbor had to have the pole set in his yard when I said no, to charge his second EV.
There, is apparently a waiting list to charge a new EV vehicle on our culdesac.
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