I remember about 12 years ago or so a firefighter said they had some trucks with foam instead of water to fight potential hybrid fires. And recently a dispatcher told me they will often ask what type of car you have in the event of an accident. And now we get a dedicated truck because EVs tend to become barbecues. Often in parking lots
Toyota Hilux 6×6 fire truck was built to fight EV fires
With more electric vehicles on the road, EV fires have received a lot of attention in the news. High profile blazes like damaged battery packs spontaneously catching fire in the wake of Hurricane Ian and an entire cargo ship of EVs going up in flames have prompted one U.K. company to create a fire truck specifically designed to fight EV fires.
York-based Prospeed Motorsport fashioned a fire truck out of the globally popular Toyota Hilux pickup because of its compact size. EV fires often break out in places that are hard to reach with conventional fire-fighting vehicles, like underground garages or multi-story parking structures. They’ve named it the Hiload, and made sure it has a 1,850mm (72.8 inches) height so it can clear height restrictions in urban carparks.
Additionally, EV fires usually begin with battery packs that are damaged internally. The catch is that they’re usually housed in difficult-to-reach areas of the car. The Hiload carries a ColdCut Cobra fire suppression system that uses an “ultra high pressure lance” to shoot abrasive material suspended in water at 4,350 psi. The liquid spear breaks through the battery casing so water can be sprayed directly into the modules.
In theory this will limit “thermal runaway,” the phenomenon where damaged lithium-ion batteries heat up very rapidly in a chemical chain reaction to high temperatures that can be very difficult to put out. Firefighters in some cases have had to keep EVs submerged in water for days. The ColdCut Cobra system is said to be able to squelch a fire with just 60 gallons of water.
Again, I’m not against EVs. I am against forced mandates. And this tells me that all these mandates in the 1st World are a Bad Idea when you need a special truck to deal with not only fires from accidents, but, because they spontaneously catch on fire, and regular trucks cannot put them out. Nor could fire suppression systems in parking decks (you can see a system in the above photo), which tend to use water, foam, or dry suppressant. But, cannot really handle the extreme temperatures nor be able to get to the battery systems.
Oh, and the irony of using an ICE (internal combustion engine. I’ve seen this acronym cropping up a lot more of the past week) to put out an EV fire is delicious.
THE most popular passenger car model sold in the USA in the first quarter of 2023 is the Tesla Mod Y
Edmunds.com
Both the Mid 3 and the Mod Y. have prices starting less than the average new car price sold in the USA
EV fires are very difficult to extinguish.However, they are ore much less likely to catch fire. Gasoline is very easily ignited.
Teach will you be posting any data on how much LESS likely an EV is to catch fire than a gas car ?
As you know I am a fireman. So far this year I have been at three EV fires, zero ICE fires. ICE vehicles don’t spontaneously explode. At least not since the Pinto and even that was due to an outside and very specifically located hit to its gas tank.
As usual (for lying leftists) H makes true statement which are basically irrelevant to the topic about which he knows little and is unqualified to render factual information on. He tries to fix that by pasting bits and pieces of articles by other non fire personnel to bolster his non argument such as: Gasoline is very easily ignited. Duh! We all know that but it is not ignighted in gas tanks with no oxygen. So his statement is true but false in this case.
I don’t know where he gets: “EV fires are very difficult to extinguish.However, they are ore much less likely to catch fire”. Yes, they are more difficult to extinguish. In fact I’ve been to twelve training sessions on EV’s since 2021. They are a special animal and require special chemicals (all of which are carcinogens BTW) But they are NOT much less likely in any way to catch fire. When was the last time you heard of a ICE spontaneously ignighting in a persons garage and burning down the house? Never I’d guess. EV’s do it all the time it’s just not reported. It would be like expecting leftists to report the actual numbers of transsexuals child rapists. It’s just not done. Narrative comes first. Especially when they’re siphoning off trillions of dollars to support their green religion.
Hillsborough County, Florida has over 40 fire stations and my results are for only one. Just like any other information that does not fit the leftist narrative the actual numbers of EV fires is a well kept secret. Nowadays the truth is a rare commodity with the radical left controlling all facets of media and therefore information.
So take this for what it’s worth but to my knowledge H is not a fireman and can only repeat what his commie bosses tell him. I don’t have that luxury. As a Red state deplorable I need to know the facts since I’m the one people like H call to save their asses when their EV is burning at 2000 degrees and his kids are in the back seat.
We realize we are just White trash that come from a red stare and he’s soooo much superior in every way. But over my career I’ve rescued a couple hundred people from fires, sped out over the water of the Gulf to save people on burning yachts, used the jaws of life to pry an 18 month old baby from a flaming car wreck and lots more.
As Mr Brandon notes, his personal experiences with ICE vs EV fires may not be dispositive.
That said, his points are valid regarding car fires (but not child rapists or the transgendered). There is no good way to compare the rate of ICE vs EV fires. A twelve year old ICE auto is more likely to burn than a 1 year old ICE auto. But most EVs are relatively new.
It’s also unlikely that Tesla or other EV manufacturers will use EV fires in their advertising.
EV’s present a different set of benefits AND risks compared to ICE vehicles.
Dear Elwood:
Show us the proof that a 12 year old ICE car is more likely to burn than a 1 year old EV.
Are you saying that if I do something for 12 years I am more likely to have a problem than if I do something for 1 year?
Well duh………
The most popular vehicle sold in the US in the first quarter by far has been the Ford F-150.
Shall we also create a special truck (EV of course) to cart off the child slaves mining cobalt and lithium to the point that they are dropping dead in ever growing open pit ecological disaster areas? How about other special trucks to cart off all the non-recyclable EV batteries and solar panel materials once they become useless?
These must be the good paying green jobs that Bernie and Pocahontas have wet dreams about.
Photovoltaic Solar holds great promise, thermal to a lesser degree, but in either case the technology is just not ready for market, never has been. So far it’s been a complete boondoggle. The definition of a false economy. “Pennywise, pound foolish” and “robbing Peter to pay Paul” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
I have no problem with the responsible subsidizing of research but the truckloads of cash that have been pissed away on the current solar, EV, and battery technology so far has only made a few really rich assholes a little richer while creating more of a mess and costing the citizenry almost twice as much as petroleum-based energy. That and plumped up the campaign coffers of the even worse assholes that created and administered the programs in the first place. These .gov programs, besides the obvious corruption, are actually stifling advances in the technology. Why make a product better when you can bribe some politicians to pay you for your shitty one? And guess where all that cash comes from, you and me. Remember that next April 15th.
Solar panel and battery technology needs to get to a place where the raw materials can be obtained without creating ugly humanitarian and ecological disasters on every continent first. Wouldn’t that be a nice start? Jesus fucking Christ, we’ve got half the planet losing sleep over sustainable coffee production, but we can’t apply the same market forces to solve this little inconvenient snag in the green energy process? Apparently not while our elected “officials” are on the tit! All we see are a vapor trail of decrees and rulings, commanding utterly unattainable (ambitious, we’re told) shifts to “renewables” as though that sort of thing could be accomplished by fiat.
Let’s work on improving the efficiency such that the hardware will at least have a prayer of producing as much energy over its service life as the nasty old fossil fuels it took to create it and figure out how to recycle the parts afterward without adding to the environmental troubles created by the mining disasters and manufacturing operations that it took to produce them.
Fat chance, our betters will use the coming social credit system to force us at gun point to use the so called green energy tech shortly.
Child labor for any reason is deeply regrettable. Unfortunately for many children it is there only means to survive. Without their labor they would die.
EV demand is NOT the major demand for cobalt, electronics is. I hope Mathew that to reduce your own guilt in cobalt use you might consider donating to a charity .
Tesla’s catch fire about once for every 200 million miles driven
ICE vehicles are much more prone to catch fire often so with a dramatic fireball. Tesla fires begin very slowly. ICE vehicles catch fire about 10 times more frequently, once every 20 million miles.
Torquenews.com
Jan 30, 2023
About 10% of cobalt mined goes into EVs
Mathew I hope you have learned something today.
Carbon boy-I would like to learn something today. Why do we need EVs? If theyre so good, why the need to mandate them? Thanks in advance. By the way, it takes mining and processing 500,000 lbs of raw materials to make a 1000 lb battery. Sounds very “green”. Nexuspmg.com
Jill asks:
Not speeding is good, so why do we mandate speed limits.
If home ownership is so good why do we have to subsidize it?
If childhood immunizations are good, why the need to mandate them?
Jill typed:
So what, even if true?
Coal mining, oil drilling, gas extraction and the transport of all have environmental impacts as well, agreed? Not to mention that CO2 is a dangerous byproduct of burning fossil fuels and is causing the Earth to warm.
A bunch of nonsensical non sequiturs followed by provable errors (lies) is not considered a rational rebuttal.
Typical Rimjob though.
(Hic!)
#PedoPervRimjob
#MustBeHappyHour
Bwaha! Lolgfy
Yes, all those have environmental impacts as well, and those are all required in the production of EV batteries and cars.
Internal combustion engines are good, but they didn’t have to be mandated over horses. Funny how that worked.
“CO2 is a dangerous by product of burning ff and causing the earth to warm.” So is CO2 a dangerous byproduct of breathing, too?
Actually, no evidence it’s dangerous nor that it’s causing warming. On top of that, no matter the cause of warming, no evidence that warming is dangerous, unless you consider a greener earth as dangerous. But you knew that …
Jl asks:
Nope. And here’s why. Animals (termites, cows, humans, manatees, chickens etc) eat foods containing carbohydrates derived from plants (alfalfa, lespedeza, soybeans, rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, carrots, cantaloupe, sugar cane, peas, beans, beer etc) – plants that usually grow and are harvested over a short time scale. Plants incorporate atmospheric CO2 into carbohydrates using energy derived from sunlight. Soooo… there is a balance between plants extracting CO2 from air and animals emitting CO2 as a product of respiration.
Some 300 million years ago (Carbonaceous Period) as plants died, their carbohydrates were compressed into coal, oil and gas. Over the past century or so our burning of coal, oil and gas has released billion of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere much faster than it can be absorbed by plants and the oceans. That’s why burning fossil fuels is causing CO2 to rise.
Molecules, including CO2, are not evil.
I’m against the slave labor in Africa used to mine cobalt that goes into these batteries.
I’m also not in favor of the environmental devastation caused by lithium mining in South America and nickel and other mining in Indonesia.
It has been determined that so call fossil fuels are not derived from the remains of previous periods and that the supply of fossil fuels is constantly replenished.
If there were NO SUBSIDIES WHATSOEVER for EVs, the market would be in the toilet. If customers could actually see an HONEST accounting of just HOW MUCH POLLUTION goes into the mining of the minerals/raw materials, combined with how much pollution goes into producing the electricity THEY USE in their specific local area, especially compared to how much less is produced by gas/diesel burning cars, the market would be in the toilet. THAT is why NONE of that is allowed to happen.