Tesla Model S Burns To Ground In Pennsylvania
There wasn’t much left of the electric car…
The thing about electric cars is while they might be hot sales items in certain areas, they also burn hotter. That point was illustrated yet again by a Tesla Model S which caught fire on Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania not too long ago, the EV burning to the ground. It took multiple tanker trucks pouring plenty of water on the fire to get it to extinguish and stay that way, leaving precious little of the car when the smoke cleared.
Check out the Tesla that reignited while sitting in a junkyard here.
Thanks to a series of photos from the Columbia Volunteer Fire Company, we can see the fire as it rages, the firefighters’ efforts to put it out, and the smoldering mess in the end. The incident in question took place on the morning of November 15. A local report says the Tesla, which was driving west on I-80, hit a piece of debris on the road the driver couldn’t avoid.
It sounds like that debris caused damage to the battery pack, because the couple who were inside said smoke started coming from the chassis. That’s when they pulled over and got out of the Tesla just in time before it caught fire.
According to the couple’s daughter, who was interviewed by a local news station, her parents had just purchased the Model S the Monday before. They were on a road trip to visit a relative in Yarmouth, Massachusetts when the plan was derailed.
It took three fire companies and about 12,000 gallons of water to put out the electric car fire. As can be expected, the lithium-ion battery pack kept reigniting, as the crews continued dousing it.
Columbia Volunteer Fire Company says it believes this was the first electric car fire in the area. While they and the other fire companies had trained and planned for just such an incident, it’s always exciting to finally tackle a novel situation. Thankfully, it seems like everything went smoothly without the batteries reigniting, etc.
Source:
https://autos.yahoo.com/tesla-model-burns-gro...00963.html
----
Lithium ion batteries have been used by model airplane hobbyists since the early 2000s. Hobbyists learned very quickly that when a model with Lithium ion batteries crashes . . . stay away from it . . . because within five to ten minutes the energy within the batteries will be released in a violent conflagration. The reason why Tesla batteries are so heavy is that they have been designed to mitigate these kinds of fires. A Tesla battery is a collection of thousands of AA sized batteries, which do a good job of mitigating the risk of shock causing a membrane failure. But membrane failures do occur. One battery module in a Tesla has over a thousand AA sized Li-ion batteries. If just one AA sized battery goes up in flames, it will cause a chain reaction of cells not damaged by the shock but that cannot withstand temperature increases and the entire car will be consumed by fire. The battery packs do a good job of controlling the rate of spread, so that the occupants of the car should have plenty of time to get out. But . . . once the fire starts, there is so much energy remaining in even a discharged" Li-ion battery, that the fire will be impossible to stop, and the car will be consumed. And the fire cannot be stopped with water. The entire battery will be consumed, regardless of the efforts of our valiant firefighters. If I were an EV owner, even a minor auto collision would cause me to get as far away from the automobile as possible, as quickly as I can.
That fire emitted more toxic smoke in two hours than my ICE Honda will in 5 years. The mining and manufacturing process for the battery will create more emissions than the car can save in 30 years of operation, which is impossible because the battery only lasts 8 to 10 years. The used batteries will be the next "super duper fund site" that will be a massive source of environmental hazards for decades. And no, they are NOT going to be recycled. That's just talk. There's no money it, end of story. Forcing EV's on us is just another grievous self-inflicted wound by Democrats.
Wait until these new semi tractors ignite. Will that be the equivalent of 10 car fires at once?
There wasn’t much left of the electric car…
The thing about electric cars is while they might be hot sales items in certain areas, they also burn hotter. That point was illustrated yet again by a Tesla Model S which caught fire on Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania not too long ago, the EV burning to the ground. It took multiple tanker trucks pouring plenty of water on the fire to get it to extinguish and stay that way, leaving precious little of the car when the smoke cleared.
Check out the Tesla that reignited while sitting in a junkyard here.
Thanks to a series of photos from the Columbia Volunteer Fire Company, we can see the fire as it rages, the firefighters’ efforts to put it out, and the smoldering mess in the end. The incident in question took place on the morning of November 15. A local report says the Tesla, which was driving west on I-80, hit a piece of debris on the road the driver couldn’t avoid.
It sounds like that debris caused damage to the battery pack, because the couple who were inside said smoke started coming from the chassis. That’s when they pulled over and got out of the Tesla just in time before it caught fire.
According to the couple’s daughter, who was interviewed by a local news station, her parents had just purchased the Model S the Monday before. They were on a road trip to visit a relative in Yarmouth, Massachusetts when the plan was derailed.
It took three fire companies and about 12,000 gallons of water to put out the electric car fire. As can be expected, the lithium-ion battery pack kept reigniting, as the crews continued dousing it.
Columbia Volunteer Fire Company says it believes this was the first electric car fire in the area. While they and the other fire companies had trained and planned for just such an incident, it’s always exciting to finally tackle a novel situation. Thankfully, it seems like everything went smoothly without the batteries reigniting, etc.
Source:
https://autos.yahoo.com/tesla-model-burns-gro...00963.html
----
Lithium ion batteries have been used by model airplane hobbyists since the early 2000s. Hobbyists learned very quickly that when a model with Lithium ion batteries crashes . . . stay away from it . . . because within five to ten minutes the energy within the batteries will be released in a violent conflagration. The reason why Tesla batteries are so heavy is that they have been designed to mitigate these kinds of fires. A Tesla battery is a collection of thousands of AA sized batteries, which do a good job of mitigating the risk of shock causing a membrane failure. But membrane failures do occur. One battery module in a Tesla has over a thousand AA sized Li-ion batteries. If just one AA sized battery goes up in flames, it will cause a chain reaction of cells not damaged by the shock but that cannot withstand temperature increases and the entire car will be consumed by fire. The battery packs do a good job of controlling the rate of spread, so that the occupants of the car should have plenty of time to get out. But . . . once the fire starts, there is so much energy remaining in even a discharged" Li-ion battery, that the fire will be impossible to stop, and the car will be consumed. And the fire cannot be stopped with water. The entire battery will be consumed, regardless of the efforts of our valiant firefighters. If I were an EV owner, even a minor auto collision would cause me to get as far away from the automobile as possible, as quickly as I can.
That fire emitted more toxic smoke in two hours than my ICE Honda will in 5 years. The mining and manufacturing process for the battery will create more emissions than the car can save in 30 years of operation, which is impossible because the battery only lasts 8 to 10 years. The used batteries will be the next "super duper fund site" that will be a massive source of environmental hazards for decades. And no, they are NOT going to be recycled. That's just talk. There's no money it, end of story. Forcing EV's on us is just another grievous self-inflicted wound by Democrats.
Wait until these new semi tractors ignite. Will that be the equivalent of 10 car fires at once?
