Electric vehicles can go up in flames after being submerged in water

[thewayne]

Such as, say, the two hurricanes that have struck Florida in the last twelve months or so.

If the battery gets submerged, it can begin to form salt crystal bridges between battery cells that will cause short circuits, then *POOF* and we have ignition! It takes a crazy amount of water to extinguish an EV battery, so you don't want this to happen, especially if the car is still in your garage!

Officials are advising people with EVs that have become submerged significantly or completely to NOT keep it in your garage, move it at least 50' away from any occupied structures, and notify your insurance company just like if you'd been in an accident.

Some people think that because you don't have an internal combustion engine that it's safe to drive through deep water. It isn't. Last year's FL hurricane saw a few dozen EVs burn, this year at least two - one of them while being transported by the fire department!

This is not specifically a Tesla problem, any EV can have this happen to it if the battery gets submerged. One of the problems is that some fire departments don't understand how to fight an EV battery fire: they just pump water on top, rather than trying to get water underneath it where the battery is, and that water sprayed on top is pretty much wasted. One department made a rig that they could position under the car, then drive a spike into the battery compartment to open a hole, that allowed them to spray water directly into the battery! Very effective technique to get the water into the source of combustion.

I've heard that the foam that fire trucks can spray isn't very effective against EV battery fires, I don't know the details.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-idalia-electric-car-caught-fire-tesla/

Comments

[dewline]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

[thewayne]

I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect they can't be 100% sealed as they probably need to out-gas when it's hot outside.  But that's just a guess.  If that is the case, you could seal them and have a check valve, but given manufacturing tolerances, I wouldn't expect an American-made car by the Big Three to be absolutely trustworthy.

[acelightning73]

Fire-fighting foam turns out to be terribly dangerous to humans and the environment. It may be the only way to put out lithium battery fires, but has anybody tried a plain CO2 extinguisher?

[thewayne]

I expect they've tried everything at their disposal, but I haven't heard any reports.  If I remember, I'll take a look at our journals and see if we get any fire-fighting ones.  We used to teach EMT and fire-fighting basics, but it was before EVs became so big.

[acelightning73]

Firefighting foam (of the AAFF types) is one of the things people on military bases (and firefighters, and people who work at airports) can suffer serious after-effects from. Just like the stuff that got into the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, which led to my uncle dying of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and one of the blood cancers, last year. He'd been a Marine since he got out of college. Last time I saw him was at my wedding. He was my father's half brother; my paternal grandmother died before I was born.

[thewayne]

Was Lejune where they had the outbreak of men developing breast cancer?  I believe it was one of the Marine bases.

[acelightning73]

The cases at LeJeune were all neurological or related to birth defects, or blood or bone cancer, or liver problems, from solvents and pesticides in the well water (from improper waste handling). There might have been a similar incident in another place. My uncle's last known address was an "extended care home". And the cause of death was listed as complications of Alzheimers. His kids seem to have all been okay.

[silveradept]

So we can decide between flooded engines with gasoline tanks or flooded battery compartments that could catch fire. Either way, the whole difficulty of having to deal with hurricanes and floods will should things more expensive for the people who are responsible for the changed weather patterns and who aren't doing a damn thing to try and arrest or unwind the damage they continue to do.

[disneydream06]

I know they are environmentally better, but that's just one more reason to not get one. :o :o :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

Well, it's definitely a concern if you live in low-lying areas.

[disneydream06]

Thank goodness I don't have that problem. :o