Florida Home That Survived Hurricane Burns to the Ground from EV: 'A Ticking Time Bomb'

The Western Journal ^ | October 14th 2022 | Abby Liebing

[Jacquerie]

After surviving Hurricane Ian, some homes in Florida are facing a new danger: electric vehicles catching fire due to their batteries being corroded by the floods.

State Rep. Bob Rommel and state Fire Marshal Jim Patronis have been particularly vocal about the threat of EV fires in the aftermath of the hurricane.

“Electric vehicles are catching on fire due to electrical system failure caused by saltwater storm surge from Hurricane Ian, catching homes on fire, endangering first responders and FL families. I’m calling on EV companies to partner with us to find solutions. We must take action,” Patronis tweeted.

In a video Patronis shared along with those comments, firefighters can be seen fighting a Tesla fire. A woman is heard saying that the firefighters had already dumped 1,500 gallons of water on the car, but the fire just kept burning.

Last week, Patronis wrote a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ask for more information about the risks to EVs from saltwater damage.

“On October 6th, I joined North Collier Fire Rescue to assess response activities related to Hurricane Ian and saw with my own eyes an EV continuously ignite, and continually reignite, as fireteams doused the vehicle with tens-of-thousands of gallons of water,” Patronis wrote.

“Subsequently, I was informed by the fire department that the vehicle, once again reignited when it was loaded onto the tow truck. Based on my conversations with area firefighters, this is not an isolated incident. As you can appreciate, I am very concerned that we may have a ticking time bomb on our hands.”

[wintertime]

Probably a good idea. My husband and I were talking about it this morning and we’ve decided not charge the e-trike battery at night.

[Jacquerie]

<>It’s a really big problem except for only one thing, and that is that there is only a single instance of an electric vehicle burning after the hurricane<>

Not so.

Ian flooding, storm surges expose vulnerability of batteries in electric vehicles sparking fire.

[Overtaxed]

the firefighters had already dumped 1,500 gallons of water on the car, but the fire just kept burning.

That's right. Pour water on a lithium fire.

[Lazamataz]

You are a bad man.

[Texan4Life]

Weeks later... still Danger with Electric vehicles!!

GMA Reports

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5NiWJcyrwI

[Jacquerie]

Yikes. I watched it.

Unfortunately, it won’t affect the opinion of EV evangelicals in government or at FR.