Posted on 08/21/2023 5:44:55 AM PDT by SJackson
The New York Fire Department recently reported that so far this year there have been 108 lithium-ion battery fires in New York City, which have injured 66 people and killed 13. According to FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, “There is not a small amount of fire, it (the vehicle) literally explodes.” The resulting fire is “very difficult to extinguish and so it is particularly dangerous.”
Last year there were more than 200 fires from batteries from e-bikes, EVs and other devices.
A fire ignited at an e-bike shop and killed four people near midnight on the morning of June 20. Two individuals were left in critical condition. The fire commissioner has warned New Yorkers that such devices could be very dangerous and typically explode in such a way that renders escape impossible.
FDNY also reports that in just three years, lithium-ion battery fires have surpassed those started by cooking and smoking as the most common causes of fatal fires in New York City. It’s happening all over the country as these blazes have become commonplace. Cars and e-bikes are randomly blowing up in driveways and garages.
Now let’s be honest: 13 deaths in a city the size of New York with some 8 million people is hardly an epidemic. Regulations should always be based on a cost versus benefit calculation, or there would be no cars at all.
And yet the same scaremongers on the left who have zero tolerance and want bans for small risks when it comes to everything from swimming pool diving boards, gas stoves, plastic straws, vaping, fireworks and so on, have a surprisingly high pain threshold when it comes to people dying or suffering critical injured from “green” electric battery fires.
Or consider this: In 1965, Ralph Nader almost single-handedly helped ban the popular Chevrolet Corvair — famous for its engine placed in the back trunk of the car. Nader’s bestselling shock book “Unsafe at Any Speed” declared the car was deadly. But there was no real evidence of that claim, and to this day there are no reliable statistics on how many passengers — if any — died in Corvairs from rear-end accidents.
What is indisputable is that EVs will cause far more deaths than Corvairs ever did.
One other example: There have been more fatalities in just one city in a single year from lithium-ion batteries in cars than all the people who died from the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident — which was zero.
Yet, after the accident, thanks to the environmentalists’ fear campaign (with the help of the blockbuster anti-nuke movie “The China Syndrome”), no domestic nuclear plants were built for three decades. That is despite the fact that nuclear plants emit no greenhouse gases.
But with EVs, the greens are pushing aside any concerns about the collateral damage of deaths and injuries. Biden wants to mandate that nearly ALL new cars sold in the U.S. be EVs by 2032. If that happens, many thousands of Americans may die or will be inured from electric vehicle fires.
All this is especially hypocritical because once upon a time the left’s mantra was “no trading blood for oil.” Now they are willing to trade blood in exchange for getting Americans to stop using oil. An irony of all this is that because of all the energy needed to produce windmills, solar panels and electric batteries, new studies are showing that the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to this “net zero” transition is close to zero. It turns out, green energy causes some pollution, too.
For the record, I’m not in favor of the government banning EVs or e-bikes or just about anything. I just believe that we should make policy decisions based on real and factual risk assessments, not false scares and sensationalism.
As for the future of EVs, maybe it’s time for Ralph Nader to write a sequel to “Unsafe at Any Speed.”
1) Pressure in the rear tires was key to stopping Corvairs’ from spinning out.
2) A curved piece of hard rubber was the Pintos’ factory retrofit for rear-end crashes. (The most infamous was caused by a van driver, who rammed a Pinto with four aboard at 40-MPH!)
The thing is, EVs can be a hoot to drive. They’re fast off the line and at around town speeds. Max torque at 0 rpm, that’s how electric motors work. Heavy, so they don’t corner well, and of course refueling is a PITB. But they aren’t necessarily bad to drive for many use cases. Not mine, mind you, but for many.
No, not yet. See, they have to ban internal combustion vehicles first, and get everyone to buy EVs, and then they can ban the EVs.
“1) Pressure in the rear tires was key to stopping Corvairs’ from spinning out.”
I had an old rear wheel drive car that was prone to fishtailing when it was wet, and the solution was similar, I just had to keep some extra weight in the trunk.
I guessed that because the Tesla drivers love their cars. I imagine if that lady’s Jeep was in that category she wouldn’t care what anyone said but I think it’s a PIA so the ribbing adds insult to injury.
If the government had a brain it would build more bike paths! The population would be better for it, we could work from home on inckenent days etc... However with the defund and catch-and-release programs and everything else in society breaking down, a bike path might be a hazardous one way ticket to death by the undesirables.
//½ snark//
Now separate those from EVs from those caused by cheap e-bike batteries and cheap poorly-designed chargers.
“The problem with the Corvair.... pintos”
Wait the front end, and put in a fuel bladder inside the tank. I liked pintos, a couple friends used to drive them around put a nice set of rims on them four on the floor it was kind of a nice little American buzz bomb.
The Corvairs were kind of cool looking. If it was a weight distribution problem why didn’t Volkswagen bugs have the same issues... or did they? According to Click and Clack the bugs were death traps.
The problem with batteries is that once they start burning there’s not much to keep them from releasing their energy as quickly as possible. In that sense they’re kind of like a bomb. OTOH a gasoline fire is somewhat self limiting. It needs oxygen to burn and the availability of oxygen is limited by the surface area of the gasoline and other factors. So the release of energy is slower and less violent. A gasoline fire is just good ol’ combustion which is fairly benign compared to the nasty chemical fire you get with a battery.
The fire hazard aspect of batteries is a serious drawback that’s going to need to be fixed. Batteries will need to be designed to incorporate some means to self-limit the energy release when they burn IMO.
Must be global warming causing the batteries to burn.
Battery powered EVs were always a niche vehicle, suitable for use in a relatively limited circumstances. The battery technology is just not there yet, and may never be, because of limiting factors related to how the batteries could be recharged, the heat gain by rapid charge or discharge of the battery array, the potential that spent batteries have for recycling, and the weight factor.
Fuel-cell electric vehicles show vastly more promise for a future means of powering vehicles suitable for highway and long-distance travel, even large cargo trucks and interurban buses. There may even be some good sense in taking a step backward, going to hybrid Diesel-electric power delivery, which seems to work just fine in railway locomotives. The Diesel power unit runs a generator, which provides power to the electric motors located on each wheel, altogether a much more efficient way of transmitting power to the wheels than gearboxes and differential axles. with their inherent friction and slippages.
It has just occurred to me that the tablet that I am typing this on also uses a Li-Ion battery. Do I have to treat it like a possible incendiary device?
Kinda funny that anyone would call for their banning. Everything has risks. I dont own one but do have a ebike. I don’t think the government should determine I can or cannot take risks with my life and property.
Boom Boom
Rear engines are the issue. You do not want to lift near or in the apex of a turn. It is counterintuitive. You will be cuttin 360s for a while. They don’t call Porsche’s widow makers for nutting.
Both the Corvair and the VW had the same issue but the Corvair had 2-3 times the horsepower so it was easier to get in trouble. Rear engine caused the car to push into a curve and try to keep going straight.
#4 When an electric car is in an accident and the battery pack splits open you will have battery shrapnel flying everywhere.
The batteries are a bit bigger then double AA ones and if you get hit by one you will either be dead or badly wounded.
In the video in the story just look at the blowtorch and explosions!
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https://nbc16.com/news/local/tesla-crashes-at-100-mph-in-corvallis-sends-batteries-shooting-through-apartment-windows
A driver high on marijuana crashed a Tesla into an apartment building late Tuesday night, sending hundreds of small batteries flying, police said. Two of the batteries shot through apartment windows. One landed in a resident’s lap. The other came to rest on a bed - and set the sheets on fire.
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Battery pack ejected
https://electrek.co/2023/02/02/audi-e-tron-battery-pack-seen-ejecting-during-crash/
So....how does owning an electric vehicle affect your insurance premiums?
Tesla
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