Did no one consider that having large lithium batteries near salt water was a Bad Idea, and to construct them so that the water doesn’t get in?
As Hurricane Idalia caused flooding, some electric vehicles exposed to saltwater caught fire
Floridians battered by Hurricane Idalia this week may not have expected another threat — that floodwaters could cause their cars to suddenly burst into flames.
Yet that’s exactly what happened when two electric vehicles caught fire after being submerged in saltwater churned up by the storm. Firefighters in Palm Harbor, Florida, cited the incidents, both of which involved Teslas, in warning owners that their rechargeable car batteries could combust if exposed to saltwater.
“If you own a hybrid or electric vehicle that has come into contact with saltwater due to recent flooding within the last 24 hours, it is crucial to relocate the vehicle from your garage without delay,” the department said in a Facebook post. “Saltwater exposure can trigger combustion in lithium-ion batteries. If possible, transfer your vehicle to higher ground.”
The warning also applies to electric golf carts, scooters and bicycles, with lithium-ion batteries potentially sparking a fire when they get wet. More specifically, salt residue remains after the water dries out and can create “bridges” between the battery’s cells, potentially creating electrical connections that can spark a fire.
Consider that there are going to be lots and lots of these electric vehicles in areas near the oceans and salt waterways. Certainly, EVs and others are not relegated to coastal areas (map from this link)
but, quite a few are. People love using electric scooters and bikes at the beach, and plenty of golf carts near salt water.
In Florida, fire crews were towing one of the vehicles, a Tesla that had been submerged in Pinellas County, Florida, when it abruptly went up in flames, Palm Harbor Fire Rescue training chief Jason Haynes told CBS MoneyWatch. He said combustion can occur well after a car is exposed to saltwater and emphasized the importance of moving potentially damaged vehicles out of garages and away from nearby structures.
There are plenty of links to videos of the Tesla and others on fire. Seriously, water coming up to the wheel well can cause a fire. That’s not that high.
Pinellas Park: Tesla exposed to water from Hurricane Idalia was in the process with being towed when fire started. Vehicle dropped on 65th Way just south of Park Blvd. No injuries pic.twitter.com/BhcBUBbxuF
— IONTB.COM (@IONTB) August 31, 2023
Who’s looking forward to being forced into a vehicle that can catch on fire easily?
Salt water corrodes just about everything especially the underside of your car. Everyone who lives near the coast, on an island or lives in area where the roads are salted to prevent ice formation. Since salt water has a high mineral content it can conduct electricity better than fresh water and can short out the electrical system.
Any vehicle flooded by the storm should be totaled and sent to the junk yard. If someone is unlucky to acquire one of the EVs, they’re getting a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any time.
For those of you who had your EV totaled, take the insurance money and buy a safer ICE vehicle.
As you know I live near Tampa and although this past weekend during the hurricane there were a few instances of cars catching on fire I will tell you this have you ever heard of problems with golf carts bursting in flames? That could probably happen but I haven’t seen it. But over the last two years I’ve put out six EV fires. And that’s just in the Tampa area.
You’ve got golf courts were prone to burst into flames then The Villages would have burned down years ago. The houses down here have special little 3rd garages just for golf carts. I haven’t heard over my lifetime here of a plague of golf cart fires have you? Of course not. Just more leftist scare tactics. Everything with the left is a crisis an emergency or just a big scary ooga booga. Everything’s a matter of life and death and must be done today immediately regardless of the cost and regardless of the effect on your lives.
We got homeless people living all over the streets and crapping all over the streets of every major Democrat run city. We have crime so rampant that decriminalizing crime. We have teachers that are supposed to be trusted with our children telling our kids to have their breasts and their penises removed. The Democrats have got us into it another never ending war in Ukraine. They have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on climate change that’s not changing the climate. They’ve wasted trillions on COVID and they’re getting geared up to do it again.
Meanwhile they wanna spend trillions more on climate change knowing full well man can’t change the climate.
Commenter: knowing full well man can’t change the climate
Available evidence supports that man has already changed the climate. Are you suggesting that reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases WON’T eventually stop warming?
Really? What would the climate be if men weren’t here? The answer to that is there’s no way of knowing.
Man like every other animal and every other of God’s creations on the earth and in the universe affects the planet. I’m not denying that. What we are denying is that man has such a great effect that it’s ruining the earth and going to cause its destruction. That’s a bunch of hyper crazy BS. That scare taxes to get money for Democrat politicians. Just like the great COVID hoax was.
The climate has been changing for billions of years without man doing anything. Wyoming and Utah used to be glaciers for God’s sake. Greenland used to be green. Things change in climate the only thing that never changes is the stupid narrow minded mentality of a leftist that’s as constant as the northern star.
Available evidence supports that this climate isn’t outside the bounds of natural variability. Man made climate change is most evidenced in Urban Heat Islands
Do golf carts even use lithium batteries? When I hear about golf carts, the batteries are usually described as AGM lead acid batteries.
All the older ones were lead acid, newer ones are offered with Li. I have an old EZ-Go utility cart kept at a friend’s farm for hunting season. 6 lead-acid batteries.
According to the NTSB:
According to that, ICE cars are 3 times more likely to catch fire than EVs. EV fires are more difficult to extinguish.
Note too that “NO government agency is to be trusted until after the revolution”. – DJ Trump
Physics and chemistry are fighting the
global warmingclimate change activists? Oh, noes!The entire EV “movement” thus far is based upon a colossal lie. The current technology is less efficient, less sustainable, less durable, more expensive, more polluting, more labor intensive, and more dangerous. The tech was, and continues to be, rushed to market by short sighted politics. The products available have a shorter lifecycle and the components are difficult and expensive to recycle. They are an ecological, humanitarian and economic disaster, and that’s not even considering the enormous waste of petroleum-based resources used to create this even more enormous boondoggle, resources that could have been used to improve the quality of life for the slave labor, many of them children, fueling the EV industry.
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. 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.
We’re doomed.
gee…. seems like the phrase “unsafe at any speed” would apply here.
where is ralph nader when you need him??
“News Outlets Are Shocked That EVs Can Catch On Fire Easily Around Salt Water”
I saw what you did there.
“Conservatives Are Ignited/Burned/Inflamed/Hot That Gas Vehicles Catch On Fire Easily Around Gasoline”