[factoryrat]

Just imagine if it had a gas engine in it, and it sprung a leak and lit up.

A Li-ion battery pack holds just a fraction of the energy that’s contained in a tank of gasoline.

Attempt to put out a car fire and you’ll see what I mean.

[Red Badger]

If it had a gasoline engine it would not have caught on fire!..................

[Dr. Sivana]

A Li-ion battery pack holds just a fraction of the energy that’s contained in a tank of gasoline.

I've had two car fires. One was in a 1973 Dodge Dart (Desireé) due to a bad oil pump. The small fire in the engine area died out, because the tank itself did not catch fire. The engine was replaced and we got a couple more years out of the Dart until she dies of rusty torsion bar holders.

The 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis just kept on burning, and yes, the conflagration was MUCH largesr than the picture. If it weren't my car, I would have gotten a big kick out of the cabin's cloth interior burnig, and then the big WHOOSH when the side windows shattered, letting in all that nice oxygen all at once. Unfortunately, I had installed a loaner car stereo in the car to test some mp3 audiobooks. My 2 year old daughter lamented the loss of her Caillou CD which I forgot to remove from the car as the smoke was billowing into the cabin. Good times.

[piytar]

Yup, Li-ion batteries have about 1/20th the energy by weight compared to gasoline IIRC. Now the battery packs weigh a bunch more than a full tank of gas, but not 20x more.

However, the fumes from burning batteries are FAR worse than the (admittedly also bad) fumes from burning gasoline!