In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, first responders in Southwest Florida are concerned about a new threat: electric vehicles catching on fire caused by saltwater.
Not only did the massive storm cause destruction of buildings, schools, and homes on the coast; it also resulted in major saltwater flooding.
Damaged EVs that have been submerged in saltwater “could result in potential fire once no longer submerged,” according to an alert posted on Facebook this week by the North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District.
Firefighters in Naples have responded to at least six electric vehicles that caught fire and are asking EV owners in the area “to please get it towed away from your home BUT you must make sure the towing operator knows how to safely and properly tow EV vehicles,” according to the Facebook post.
Maybe take those EVs to a freshwater lake, push them in for awhile to dilute the salt, pull the doors, hood and trunk covers off, then drop them into open-top shipping containers full of rice for a week or so?
Apparently, even if one catches on fire and the firefighters put it out, it can reignite days later.
5 comments:
And the wonders of (salt-laden) sea air...you'll see heat pumps with their nice aluminum fin radiators melted away by its corrosion. Also, only in FL, car roofs rusting. But best of all (not) is the politics of crackers and Tea Party retirees.
I saw a video where they had to put a burning Tesla in a battery-deep hole and fill it with water before the fucker would actually go out. Seems like little fire bombs everywhere.
w3ski
Think of those large batteries as a decent sized
engine that cannot be turned off. How many bad
things can happen with that?
Think of the smaller batteries at 16KWH, 360V DC
aad capable of putting enough energy into a short
circuit to melt metal (save for fuses and the like)
as very dangerous. Its not how much energy but
how fast it can all be dumped where the hazard is.
I run my radios here (amateur radio) off solar
and battery. and the nearly 2kwh battery is
tiny by electric auto standards and only about
3x the size of the nominal car starting battery.
A short circuit can burn the house down.
Seriously if the makers did not seal the battery and
its power management systems against water/salt or
other its going to be all bad.
Too many years dealing with salt water around radios,
electronics and even hulls. The stuff eats things and
otherwise kills it. Electrolysis is a hazard when
salt and electricity meet.
So looking at it, no surprise at all.
Eck!
So I actually work in R&D for a major automotive supplier. You would not believe the fire hazard mitigations we have to put in place in order to test PRODUCTION versions of various EV’s. Isolated charging stalls, fire walls between charging and shop facilities, separate HVAC for charging building, shop and offices etc. Don’t even ask about what’s required for testing of pre-production prototypes.
Seriously, ask your insurance company/s who’s going to pay for the hazmat remediation when one burns your house down. We’re talking “remove the debris and excavate the soil 6’ down and haul off to the nearest hazmat dump” type of response. Never mind the fact that if the local FD is notified of an EV in the garage, they’re likely to just let the whole house burn. If you’re lucky, they MIGHT actively try to prevent the neighbors house from burning.
According to this article:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15345397/battery-taxonomy-the-differences-between-hybrid-and-ev-batteries/
A F150 hybrid has a 1.5 kWh battery and a Mustang EV has a 99 kWh battery.
A little searching shows a lead-acid car batter is 1kWh or less.
I wonder if home insurance policies will soon charge more if an EV is kept in an attached garage.
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