Posted on 11/14/2023 5:08:19 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Firefighters called to extinguish an electric-vehicle fire are discovering the surest approach is to stand back and watch it burn.
Electric cars combust differently than their gas-powered counterparts. Firefighters and researchers said EV fires last longer, are harder to put out and have a tendency to reignite.
First responders in Franklin, Tenn., faced their first burning EV in September, a Nissan Leaf that ignited while charging outside the car maker’s North America headquarters. They spent hours pouring 45,000 gallons of water on the car, compared with the 500 to 1,000 gallons that fires involving gasoline-powered vehicles usually need, Fire Marshal Andy King said.
“I think if we were faced with a similar scenario next time, we might need to let it burn,” he said.
Nissan said it is investigating the cause of the fire.
It isn’t clear how frequently EV fires take place, but as the cars become a larger part of the American fleet, some fire departments see them as a growing nuisance. Firefighters in Florida’s North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District responded to six last year after a storm surge brought by Hurricane Ian caused saltwater to get into EV battery compartments, which can cause short-circuits.
There are more than 170,000 vehicle fires in the U.S. each year, but the National Fire Protection Association, which uses federal data to track the fires, doesn’t break them out by power source. Tesla estimates its cars catch fire at a rate much lower than U.S. vehicles overall, and some independent studies have reached similar conclusions about EVs in general.
First responders are still trying to figure out how to deal with EV fires. “When we look at how much money is going into battery plants, into the EV transition, there hasn’t been that carve-out...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Get away, call 911, let it burn to the ground. No one wants a repaired fire vehicle. Ask me how I know. Never mind, I’ll tell you. I have owned two of them. First, the smell never leaves and 2nd, mysterious things go wrong.
I don’t know if this is true, but I heard when lithium batteries burn they expel hydrogen cyanide gas which I would imagine does wonders for the environment, basically turning the car into a Nazi Auschwitz gas chamber killing everything around it.
And letting them burn to the ground is good for the environment, which is the alleged purpose of EVs. </sarcasm>
Every time an EV burns to the ground, does the sea level raise 1 μm?
At least is was a green fire from a green vehicle.
“Every time an EV burns to the ground, does the sea level raise 1 μm?”
Every time an EV burns to the ground, some exec at Exxon gets his wings.
A lithium-induced fire is particularly nasty, in that when elemental lithium comes in contact with water, it converts the water to lithium hydroxide and free hydrogen, which burns at one of the highest temperatures of any chemical oxidation, much hotter than a fire fueled by hydrocarbons.
Hydrogen cyanide, which is essentially hydrogen combining with the 78% of the atmosphere that is nitrogen, may form, but being extremely light in relation to the rest of the gases in the earth’s atmosphere, rises quickly and does not accumulate in any quantity near the ground.
I have the bleak, depressing feeling that “let it burn” is becoming the buzz phrase for our time.
Comments BUMP!
Meaning a lithium-involved conflagration converts the water (unwisely) being used to put the fire out into fuel for more, and more intense, fire.
So are these EV fires like mini Hindenburgs?
How do you sleep with this in your garage?
Drink a lot of beer and piss on it. And that’s before the fire.
Use the type of foam the airport fire fighters use?
You need to park the EV as far as possible away from your house and garage. And if you home charge, get a very long cable.
Yes.
Sounds like Franklin TN Fire dept could use some continuing education hours. This has been known for some time.
We’re in the very best of hands.
The way we put out battery fires at our RC airplane club is dump a bucket of sand over it.
So for a full sized car, get a bucket loader, scoop a bucket full of dirt and burry the car.
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