EV, not for me!

[Stravinsk]

The other day, I witnessed something I've never seen before off screen in life. A car on the side of the road that was so burned it looked like it was largely melted. Immediately I thought...EV.

China:

Australia:

The big take-away for me:

Whether the number of fires compared to ICE's (internal combustion engine) is comparable or not doesn't matter. The thing that matters with these vehicles is that because they contain their own oxygen source in the battery (that is, some sort of oxidative element that outputs oxygen), these things can very easily go into thermal runaway and are extremely difficult to extinguish. Often the fire, once put out, re-ignites itself later! They can not only destroy the car itself, but surrounding cars and even infrastructure they are housed in. Imagine an underground parking lot below a mall. Just 1 EV fire could catch other EV's and bring down the building. They are that dangerous.

 

[Stravinsk]

 

[Lamb]

I've read about those fires as well and it's not very publicized on the news. Doing a quick search, the media claims that they're rare. Okay, but I'm sick of the media falling back on that term because what is the percentage of rare?

 

[tango]

One of the newer high-rise buildings in London had an unfortunate side-effect of melting cars. Apparently at certain times of day the curved walls focused the sun's light and concentrated it in a specific spot. Not a spot that would obviously suffer this effect, as a few people who parked there found to their cost. I think the damage was mostly melted dashboards and mirrors rather than cars destroyed to the point they didn't functon.

I wonder what would happen if an EV were parked somewhere that got hot enough to melt parts of its insides.

It still seems that EVs are a solution that doesn't work to a problem that doesn't exist.

 

[Stravinsk]

I've read about those fires as well and it's not very publicized on the news. Doing a quick search, the media claims that they're rare. Okay, but I'm sick of the media falling back on that term because what is the percentage of rare?

Compared to the number of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars there are on the road, esp in USA, they probably are rare. Western Governments have been introducing (passing?) legislation that would ban ICE's in favor of EVs. Obviously that means EV's will eventually dominate. Thankfully some of the big car manufacturers seem to be taking a step back now.

It's not just that they catch fire. Once the battery bank ignites, they supply their own oxygen and can easily get so hot that normal fire-fighting methods simply don't work to put them out. Even when they are put out, as long as their is juice in the battery bank they can ignite again.