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Safety concerns around electric vehicles continue to mount with Australian fire and rescue services in New South Wales stating they might have to make a “tactical disengagement” of a trapped car accident victim if the battery is likely to explode. Australian journalist Jo Nova covered the story, which was first mentioned in the EV blog The Driven, and commented: “They say the first responders need more training as if this can be solved with a certificate, but the dark truth is they’re talking about training the firemen and the truck drivers to recognise when they have to abandon the rescue.”...

Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority has issued a domestic commercial vessel safety alert on the risks of ferrying battery powered cars (EVs), download it here. Each ferry operator must conduct a risk assessment for their vessel to ensure that they are capable of dealing with potential EV fires. They list the risks of carrying EVs as follows: High voltage shocks. Direct jet flames. Fires develop in intensity quickly and rapidly reach their maximum intensity (typically within 2-3 minutes). Toxic gases. Gas explosion (if the released gas accumulates for a while before being ignited). Long lasting re-ignition risk (can ignite or re-ignite...

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...

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...

Tesla caught on fire while the driver was on Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova Fire officials said that nothing was wrong with the car before it combusted Firefighters used 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish a Tesla Model S that spontaneously burst into flames on a busy highway outside of Sacramento on Saturday. The driver, who was not injured, was on Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova at around 3pm when smoke started to come out from the front of the car. Photos of the luxury car showed the vehicle completely totaled with the front end of completely burnt. Officials responded...

HAMDEN, Conn. (WTNH) – There is a dangerous new puzzle that firefighters in Connecticut and around the country are facing. Electric vehicle fires. Right now, there is no hands-on training in Connecticut to learn how to fight these complicated fires. There isn’t even an agreed plan of attack. Two months ago, firefighters in Stamford were faced with something they’d never dealt with before: a burning electric car. EV fires are hard to put out because of something called thermal runaway, which is thousands of little lithium-ion batteries that power EVs and burn in a super-heated chain reaction. “One of those...

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...

Ashburn, Va. (InvestigateTV) - There are already more than one million electric vehicles on the road in the United States, with millions more expected in the next decade. The shift toward greener automobiles is so significant that earlier this month President Biden approved $900 million in funding to kickstart the creation of a national network to charge EVs. But some of these green electric cars come with a risk that could have drivers seeing red: fires related to their batteries. Tens of thousands of vehicles have been recalled due to the potential fire threat, with dozens of significant fires reported....

It’s no secret that some electric cars have been susceptible to their lithium batteries catching fire. What’s increasingly becoming known to fire departments is how difficult those blazes are to put out. A Stamford, Connecticut, fire involving a Tesla took three times the normal effort to extinguish, according to the Stamford Fire Department. And this fire was perhaps an easy one — the car’s batteries fell out of the vehicle onto the ground...