Yet another reason to have an EV

[Por_sha911]

Electric vehicles are exploding from water damage after Hurricane Ian, top Florida official warns
Florida's chief fire marshal and financial officer said there are a 'ton of EVs disabled' from Hurricane Ian

A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian.

EV batteries that have been waterlogged in the wake of the hurricane are at risk of corrosion, which could lead to unexpected fires, according to Jimmy Patronis, the state's top financial officer and fire marshal.

"There’s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start," Patronis tweeted Thursday. "That’s a new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before. At least on this kind of scale."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/electric-vehicles-exploding-water-damage-hurricane-ian-top-florida-official-warns

[HobieMarty]

Wow, I was wondering how EVs would fare after being exposed to harsh elements and salt water being blown around and in the air.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[hbueno]

Ax meets grindstone...round 1000

[masraum]

I don't have an EV, and I have no plans to have an EV, but I'm not against EVs.

So is this another reason to have an EV, or is this another reason to live in FL or anywhere that's in danger of flooding with sea water (the entire east coast of the US and along the Gulf of Mexico)?

As they become more prevalent, I feel like something will have to be done. There was the article about a Tesla that had been in an accident. The batteries caught fire while the car was parked at the junk yard or wherever it had been taken. The fire dept put it out several times, but it kept re-igniting. They finally dug a hole and filled it with water and shoved the car into the hole so the batteries were submerged. That was the only way that they could keep the fire out.

[island911]

I like a vehicle that can get wet.

[Chocaholic]

Also a new complication for first-responders in the event of serious wrecks/rollovers, etc. You also have to wonder if anyone is preparing for the infrastructure required to dispose of millions of these batteries as they expire.

I’m thinking…no.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Also a new complication for first-responders in the event of serious wrecks/rollovers, etc. You also have to wonder if anyone is preparing for the infrastructure required to dispose of millions of these batteries as they expire.

I’m thinking…no.

I suspect that you're correct, there have been no plans. It'll take a couple/few serious issues as a results before something is done about it.

It would suck to be towing one on a flatbed and have the thing catch fire. It would suck to lose your truck like that, but I'm sure it'll eventually happen.

[dafischer]

Originally Posted by masraum

It would suck to be towing one on a flatbed and have the thing catch fire. It would suck to lose your truck like that, but I'm sure it'll eventually happen.

What's needed is an electric car rapid eject feature.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

You also have to wonder if anyone is preparing for the infrastructure required to dispose of millions of these batteries as they expire.

I’m thinking…no.

I don't hear a lot about anyone wanting to dispose of EV batteries. There are a lot of companies planning to recycle them though.


[URL="https://rxmechanic.com/ev-battery-recycling-companies"]

[CurtEgerer]

I found it interesting that Tesla (and others) battery packs were made up of several thousand tiny 18650 flashlight batteries These are the same batteries (slightly larger than a AA) found in most rechargeable flashlights and many other small electronics. Many are using different batteries now but the same design utilizing thousands of tiny batteries. I think most would assume that there is some sort of new-design high-tech wonder battery in an EV. No, it's just a s h i t ton of flashlight batteries all wired together like you'd make in your garage! Seems like the more electrical connections, the greater the odds of a failure of any given connection.

[aschen]

tesla and thier panasonic partnership put metric crap tons of development effort in to battery and cell development. Their current cells are 4680 sized. They did start with 18650 cells, but its not like those were ancient technology in the early tesla days.

https://insideevs.com/news/587455/batteries-tesla-using-electric-cars/

Cooling systems, battery managment software, and battery construction techniques are all highly advanced and engineered systems as well.

Lots of evs use the much bigger rectangular cells as well but these are inferior in alot of ways. There is an optimal surface area to volume ratio, bigger isnt always better.

[aschen]

Thankfully the salt water flooding caused no issues for any IC cars.

"electric vehicles are exploding" this sort of sensationalized reporting only does injustice to possibly rational challenges to the electrification of cars

[rusnak]

Tesla's original battery design engineer was a genius. I think he died in an airplane crash right after the original Roadster was developed. One wonder's what would have happened if he had lived.

[island911]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

I found it interesting that Tesla (and others) battery packs were made up of several thousand tiny 18650 flashlight batteries These are the same batteries (slightly larger than a AA) found in most rechargeable flashlights and many other small electronics. ...

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by masraum

It would suck to be towing one on a flatbed and have the thing catch fire. It would suck to lose your truck like that, but I'm sure it'll eventually happen.

In all fairness, I've seen that happen with an internal combustion Civic on the back of a flatbed.

Morning I-5 traffic slowed to a stop-and-go crawl even though it was 6:30 am. This was close to Hugh's old house in Santa Clarita. Pulled off on the side of the highway at a gore point was a flatbed with a burning Civic (non-hybrid) in the back. As we got closer, the Civic exploded. I remember seeing the flash on the underside of an overpass nearby. That was pretty exciting.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Noah930

In all fairness, I've seen that happen with an internal combustion Civic on the back of a flatbed.

Morning I-5 traffic slowed to a stop-and-go crawl even though it was 6:30 am. This was close to Hugh's old house in Santa Clarita. Pulled off on the side of the highway at a gore point was a flatbed with a burning Civic (non-hybrid) in the back. As we got closer, the Civic exploded. I remember seeing the flash on the underside of an overpass nearby. That was pretty exciting.

I've seen/watched a at least 5-10 car fires over the years and I've only ever seen one that included an explosion. That one wasn't nearly as exciting as they are in the movies, but I was still glad to be watching from a distance.

[pavulon]

Maybe people should be smarter than to have their stuff sitting in a place where hurricanes can ruin it. Those storms' capacity to wreck everything in their path hasn't been any mystery or surprise for how many decades now?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by pavulon

Maybe people should be smarter than to have their stuff sitting in a place where hurricanes can ruin it. Those storms' capacity to wreck everything in their path hasn't been any mystery or surprise for how many decades now?

I was wondering about all of the vehicles. I guess if you were in a 3-4 car family (husband, wife, a kid or two, maybe a truck/toy) and you were evacuating, you'd probably not want to try to drive all of them out for some reason.

And most of the time, a hurricane doesn't cause mass flooding/destruction. That kind of flooding and destruction may only happen every 20-50 years depending on where you are. We lived in our old home for ~18 years. In the time that we lived there, we never had water intrusion into the house. It got to the porch a couple of times, but would have still needed to rise at least 6 inches to get into the house. In the time that we lived there ('97-'14) there were several tropical storms and a couple/few hurricanes, and lots of crazy flooding in/around Houston.

The home did get flooded in '83 from Hurricane Alicia.

You never know what's going to happen until after it happens with mother nature. She's as or more fickle than most other women.

[ZAMIRZ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsYS-JbNf30&t=2s&ab_channel=Rivvit.blog