Electric vehicles can explode – petrol ones only do it in movies
For years I’ve told people until I’m blue in the face that electric cars don’t have enough range, that they take far too long to charge up, that they will always be too expensive and that they aren’t even very environmental
Happily, people are now starting to listen, so it’s time to move the argument along a bit with this: Electric cars are also bloody dangerous.
As I write (28th July), a massive ship is on fire off the Dutch coast and one person has died.
No one knows for sure what caused it, but it was carrying 25 electric cars, and experts say it’s likely that one of them had a faulty battery pack.
Earlier this month, much the same thing happened on an Italian car transporter in the port of Newark, New Jersey.
Two firefighters were killed putting that out.
And then there was the Felicity Ace, which was carrying cars powered by lithium-ion batteries when it caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean and sank.
In total, there have been ten major fires on ships carrying electric cars in the past 20 years.
And it’s not like salt water is to blame.
Because in the last five years, the emergency services have been called out to 753 electric vehicle fires in the UK alone.
Last weekend the World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill in Kent had to be abandoned when a faulty battery pack destroyed the pits and burned out two Lancia Delta Evo E racing cars.
And it’s not just cars. A safety charity announced this week that e-bikes have caused hundreds of catastrophic house fires.
People have died, and that’s not surprising when you learn that a fully charged e-bike contains the same explosive energy as six hand grenades.
And to make matters worse, fires in electric bikes and cars are often very difficult to extinguish.
The electrical car that Richard Hammond rolled down a hill while filming for the Grand Tour burned for days.
And then, after the fire had died down, something in the battery pack called “thermal runaway” caused it to rear back up again.
And this went on for weeks.
The fact is this. It’s only a matter of time before an electric car bursts into flames on a cross-Channel ferry or in the Chunnel. Or in an underground car park.
Of course afterwards, the electric car enthusiasts will continue to say that petrol cars catch fire too (yeah right, happens all the time, especially in Hollywood films) and that electric cars continue to make sense.
True, if you’re a weak-brained, bleeding-heart liberal.
Not so true if you’re a child slave in Africa who works round the clock mining the cobalt all those electric car batteries need to work properly.
See more here thesun.co.uk
Bold emphasis added
Header image: BBC
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Dave
| #
EVs, Unsafe at any speed! 🔥🔥🔥
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Carmel
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Salt Water may indeed be to blame!!
Li-ion Battery Safety Guide…..
‘Do not allow the battery to be immerged in or wetted with water or sea-water.’
https://www.lgensol.com/en/cs-safetyguide-caution-tab2
LG Energy Solutions (lgensol) happen to be the second largest manufacturer in the world of lithium ion batteries….
https://www.statista.com/statistics/235323/lithium-batteries-top-manufacturers/
Useful references to back up Jeremy Clarkson’s article.
‘…..the London Fire Brigade said it has been called to a fire caused by e-bike batteries on average once every two days in 2023.’
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66304564
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/my-articles/congos-miners-dying-to-feed-worlds-hunger-for-electric-cars-jcrvj37vr
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/11/industry-giants-fail-to-tackle-child-labour-allegations-in-cobalt-battery-supply-chains/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4764208/Child-miners-aged-four-living-hell-Earth.html
100 times more water required to extinguish!
‘Research by IdTechEx reveals that 17% of EV fires occur during regular driving; 25% when charging; 20% in a crash; and 4% when unduly exposes the battery to air or water. The report says EV fires are more severe than with conventional ICE vehicles. A Tesla Model S fire required nearly 30,000 gallons (over 100,000 liters) of water to extinguish the fire due to reigniting and continuously burning for four hours. By comparison, a typical car fire with ICE engine can be extinguished with about 300 gallons (>1,000 liters) of water.’
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-304a-safety-concerns-with-li-ion
‘The ship was initially reported to be carrying 2,857 vehicles, including 25 electric vehicles. However, the ship’s charterer, “K” Line, has now updated those figures to 3,783 total units and 498 electric vehicles on board, all of which are brand new.’
https://gcaptain.com/a-brief-look-back-at-recent-car-carrier-fires/
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