Posted on 04/11/2012 8:51:24 AM PDT by equaviator
According to WWJ Detroit, there was an explosion at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Mich., on Wednesday morning.
Deputy Fire Chief Gary Wilkinson said the explosion most likely was related to a lithium battery.
Wilkinson told Autoweek that a responder notified the HAZMAT team via radio that the explosion involved lithium batteries in the research facility's Alternative Energy Center.
The fire was extinguished and portions of the facility were evacuated, but responders were still on the scene.
Two people were taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.
Check out WWJ CBS Detroit for up-to-the-minute information.
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120411/CARNEWS/120419982#ixzz1rkOFfaeg
“I’d bet there’s a bunch of GM and Chevy execs beating their heads against a wall over this incident.”
GM Public Affairs Office secretary:
“Sir, President Obama is waiting to speak to you on line 1...Yessir, I’ll tell him.”
Heh. Perhaps the Volt's powerplant should be classified as an "external combustion engine." (No disrespect to the Sterling motor!)
Actually, I had one that did - a '64 Corvette. You maybe could blame the government, though. 1964 was the first year of smog rules, and Chevrolet eliminated crankcase emissions by porting the crankcase vent up, into the air cleaner rather than down to the road. This caused the air cleaner to soak up oil from the crankcase.
I experienced a backfire, which then lit the oil soaked air cleaner. The resulting fire then lit the fiberglass hood resins. It was not fun.
venting into the intake tract also causes the flash point of the fuel mixture to drop, thus predisposing to pinging and detonation.
By definition, they are. If they aren't, then they aren't right thinking!
Indeed. subsequent years added a Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve, and also ported the fumes directly into the carburetor to reduce adverse effects.
Unfortunately, cars get smog checked biennially. In between times, a little tampering goes a long way in boosting the ponies. With cycles, adjustments “for off road racing purposes only” are the norm.
ROFLOL!!
The truth hurts doesn’t it?
SMM is a Volt lover, equaviator.
My bad for assuming.
Your adolescence is showing, boy.
Yeah, so is Jennifer Granholm...Jenny take a ride!
ObamaMotors still owes us about $36-$58 billion. Stock chart...
Sources for what is owed...
http://bungalowbillscw.blogspot.com/2010/11/obama-declares-gm-american-success.html
“...for every $1 of profit, the U.S. government paid $4. Taxpayers also spent another $27-billion to buy General Motors stock and currently own about 30% of the company in stock. 47,500 blue-collar workers will be receiving profit sharing checks of up to $7,000.”
I hope they’re not breaking their arms patting themselves on the back. Probably are...GM seems like it’d be a weird place to work. “We’re special!”
Hybrids use Lithium batteries too. But the ones for all electric vehicles are by necessity of higher capacity and higher energy density. Thus, more likely to turn into a bomb.
“Why are they still messing around with batteries? It is insanity to continue with electric powered vehicles.”
IINM, people have been trying batteries for 100+yrs, and it still isn’t working. What’s the definition of “insanity”, again? It sure fits these greenie-techy morons.
Compressed or liquified NG is a proven technology for internal combustion engines. The modifications are minimal and may even allow for easy switchover at need.
Of course NG can be, and is, used in electricity generation too.
But that is not the point. The Socialists hate the automobile, it gives the lumpen proliteriate too much independence and freedom. So they'll soon discover that burning natural gas creates CO2, which it does, and we can forget about it.
Meanwhile the electric grid is strained to the breaking point. Even Texas almost went to rolling blackouts last summer, although they THINK they'll be OK this year. So what does Crazy Eddie do? Push electric cars. (For Crazy Eddie reference see the Mote In God's Eye, by Pournelle and Niven)
"When a city has grown so overlarge and crowded that it is in immediate danger of collapse ... when food and clean water flow into the city at a rate just sufficient to feed every mouth, and every hand must work constantly to keep it that way ... when all transportation is involved in moving vital supplies, and none is left over to move people out of the city should the need arise ... then it is that Crazy Eddie leads the movers of garbage out on strike for better working conditions."
"It was not part of his nature to wish for what could not be, but he hoped that the efforts to breed a more stable Mediator would succeed; it was difficult to work with creatures who might suddenly see an unreal universe and make judgements based on it. The pattern was always the same. First they wished for the impossible. Then they worked toward it, still knowing it to be impossible. Finally they acted as if the impossible could be achieved, and let that unreality influence every act."
Barack Hussein Obama is Crazy Eddie.
One of the legends at the parts store I worked at was about some genius who walked in and asked for a can of “Freezone.” So the young counter guy sells him a can of R-12. Genius walks out, removes the radiator cap and proceeds to punch a hole in the top of the can with a screwdriver. One nanosecond later it was frozen to his hand. He came back in a little upset...
I sleep with my lithium batteries. Ya think I oughta reconsider?
“If GM had been completely honest about the Volt over the last couple years it might be no big thing but they haven’t.”
If they had been completely honest about the 350 diesel, we might have a large portion of the fleet running diesel today.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.