by GNL ➕follow (0) 💰tip ignore
« First « Previous Comments 9 - 48 of 91 Next » Last » Search these comments
Are you saying it is bad engineering? I posit that no matter how you engineer a Tesla, the battery will always be susceptible to fires.
RWSGFY says
"Akshually", there was a number of recalls for ICE cars spontaneously combusting while parked. Ford, BMW and KIA come to mind. Much easier to put out though.
PS. Most recent covfefe: https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-recalls-defects/park-recalled-hyundai-kia-vehicles-outside-fire-risk-a1164933239/
While this is true, it is not because of a known limitation. Instead, it is because of bad engineering. Tesla battery fires aren't because of bad engineering.
It isn't just EVs ...
Green Globalist Disaster: E-Bikes Caused Record Fires, Injuries, and Deaths Last Year In NYC
(Zero Hedge)—Electric bicycles were responsible for a record number of fires, injuries and deaths in New York City last year.
In total, e-bikes caused 267 fires, causing 18 deaths and 150 injuries in the city, the New York Fire Department (FDNY) told Fox News, which notes that the figures represent the highest levels of each statistic – with deaths jumping 200% and fires increasing 21% over last year.
A couple of very interesting videos:
https://conservativeplaybook.com/green-globalist-disaster-e-bikes-caused-record-fires-injuries-and-deaths-last-year-in-nyc/
Why? Samsung phone battery fires were definitely because of bad engineering. Same for Li batteries igniting on planes - remember these? Both apparently not an issue anymore. Same for Tesla: if they are self-combusting it means some re-engineering is in order.
With cars the game is completely different and in the US NTHSA will be breathing down your neck the very next day your jalopies start self-combusting.
RWSGFY says
With cars the game is completely different and in the US NTHSA will be breathing down your neck the very next day your jalopies start self-combusting.
I'd agree, but that 1 in 100,000 chance is not worth it. You can't put those fires out. You're generally trying to save your home at that point and the car is for sure totaled. Hopefully your life and family isn't.
Spec/stock ICE cars will not start on fire sitting in the garage. EV's cannot make this claim.
I literally posted a link on a recall for self-combusting ICE cars with a recommendation to not park in a garage until modified by dealer.
Yes, they are harder to put out. No, they are not supposed to self-ignite if engineered properly. No differenf from phones or laptops or batteries on planes.
RWSGFY says
I literally posted a link on a recall for self-combusting ICE cars with a recommendation to not park in a garage until modified by dealer.
Yes, they are harder to put out. No, they are not supposed to self-ignite if engineered properly. No differenf from phones or laptops or batteries on planes.
Why can't the manufactuerers be sued into oblivion?
No, they are not supposed to self-ignite if engineered properly. No differenf from phones or laptops or batteries on planes.
Not enough failures for that, apparently.
problem is any ralph nader successor likely would be progressive and ideologically biased (and/or bought off) to not criticize EV's unless it is just to sabotage elon musk
For where a Tesla is best operated, it makes no sense to spend $20k+ versus comparable cars. Hell they don't even hold a charge in half the country this time of year. It's fun to drive and status. Plain and simple. It's not an argument. Just would appreciate owners would stop lying and just own up to their insecurities.
Need innovation like this. This is what Tesla envisioned and researched about "ambient energy" harvesting. Just need to refine and scale this up
https://news.mit.edu/2024/self-powered-sensor-harvests-magnetic-energy-0118
Tesla stock is down 15 percent, representing a $94 billion loss so far. Bloomberg News styles this a “reality check as EV winter sets in.” The Financial Post says 2024 is the company’s “worst start to any year – ever.”
My point is
Tesla stock is down 15 percent, representing a $94 billion loss so far. Bloomberg News styles this a “reality check as EV winter sets in.” The Financial Post says 2024 is the company’s “worst start to any year – ever.”
It's a nice technology, that if it wasn't being shoe horned, it would be much more stable and practical. If you like electric cars, then you should get an electric car. They should not be subsidized, nor should every model be a spying smart luxury car.
I keep my golf cart parked outside, 20' from the house at closest. If it burns all I can do is let the battery burn the son of a bitch. Oh well. Better than my house and I technically wouldn't even need to call the fire department. I know the risk with an electric cart.
WookieMan says
I keep my golf cart parked outside, 20' from the house at closest. If it burns all I can do is let the battery burn the son of a bitch. Oh well. Better than my house and I technically wouldn't even need to call the fire department. I know the risk with an electric cart.
Swap out the lithium batteries for AGM batteries.
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2024/01/28/so_many_problems_continue_to_plague_the_ev_industry_1007949.html
November, nearly 3,900 automobile dealers across the country sent a letter to President Biden telling him that EV demand is “not keeping up with the large influx of BEVs arriving at our dealerships prompted by the current regulations. BEVs are stacking up on our lots." They continued, saying EVs are “not selling nearly as fast as they are arriving at our dealerships.”
As I explained in the written testimony I submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last month, EVs have always been a niche-market product, not a mass-market one. And that niche market is dominated by wealthy, white, male, liberal voters who live in a handful of heavily Democratic cities and counties.
Further, that niche market is primarily defined by class and ideology. Some 57% of EV owners earn more than $100,000 annually, 75% are male, and 87% are white. Last March, Gallup reported, “a substantial majority of Republicans, 71%, say they would not consider owning an electric vehicle.”
Last October, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, released a remarkable study that found “counties with affluent left-leaning cities” like Cambridge, San Francisco, and Seattle “play a disproportionately large role in driving the entire national increase in EV adoption.” The researchers found that over the past decade, about half of all the EVs sold in the U.S. were sold in the most heavily Democratic counties in the country. The summary of the study deserves quoting at length:
The prospect for EVs as a climate change solution hinges on their widespread adoption across the political spectrum. In this paper, we use detailed county-level data on new vehicle registrations from 2012-2022 to measure the degree to which EV adoption is concentrated in the most left-leaning U.S. counties. The results point to a strong and enduring correlation between political ideology and U.S. EV adoption. During our time period about half of all EVs went to the 10% most Democratic counties, and about one-third went to the top 5%. There is relatively little evidence that this correlation has decreased over time, and even some specifications that point to increasing correlation. The results suggest that it may be harder than previously believed to reach high levels of U.S. EV adoption.” (Emphasis added.)
Ford and the other big automakers have been spending billions of dollars to cater to the whims of a tiny segment of the overall car market — a segment heavily concentrated in a handful of liberal counties. That’s a lousy business strategy. But it is an even worse strategy for federal policymakers who must be responsive to the transportation needs of every American, not just those who live in liberal cities and large, wealthy states
In October, the chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda, gloated about his company’s success with hybrids and the friction other automakers face in the EV business. Toyoda said automakers are "finally seeing reality" about all-electric cars. Unfortunately for Ford and its shareholders, finally seeing reality comes with multi-billion-dollar losses.
A final note: Ford’s EV sales in January fell by 11% compared to the same period last year. There’s more carnage ahead for FoMoCo.
He's just invested shitload of money into the lithiums. Swapping them again would be imprudent.
I read Toyota and Volkwagen are going the hydrogen fuel cell route (not lithium batteries) for their EV's.
Put it under pressure on a steel cylinder, and that cylinder will get brittle in time.
Hydrogen has GREAT energy density in terms of kg/joule - better than just about anything, but it's bulky because it's a large molecule
richwicks says
Hydrogen has GREAT energy density in terms of kg/joule - better than just about anything, but it's bulky because it's a large molecule
?? Isn't hydrogen the smallest possible molecule? An H2 molecule has only 2 hydrogen atoms, each with only one proton and one electron.
« First « Previous Comments 9 - 48 of 91 Next » Last » Search these comments
By eric -January 17, 2024
Putting out an EV fire is the other problem. One arising from the problem that EVs can – and do – catch fire spontaneously, which is a new problem.
It was once the case that a car didn’t catch fire unless someone else ran into it – or it ran into something else – at a speed high enough to puncture the gas tank and cause the sparks (from mashing metal) needed to ignite the leaking gas.
Cars didn’t just catch fire – while parked – unless someone put a lit rag in the gas filler neck.
EVs, on the other hand, can – and do – catch fire when parked. Maybe not often, but that is beside the point. People don’t often get AIDs, either. But it’s prudent to avoid situations where AIDs might be acquired.
https://youtu.be/itGeAq9rBeY?si=mppfpcgsXAeqJ_6Q
Just so, it is prudent to avoid situations that might lead to your house catching fire. As by leaving an EV parked in the garage. Or even in the driveway, for that matter – as EV fires burn extremely hot and are extremely difficult to extinguish.
This brings up another problem:Dealing with EV fires.
And paying for it all.
EV battery fires are not like ordinary fires, which can be extinguished with water and – once extinguished – are extinguished. EV battery packs are not only susceptible to spontaneous combustion, they are capable of spontaneous re-ignition. They also cause the emission of extremely toxic gasses – as opposed to the innocuous gas (carbon dioxide) arising from the burning (in an engine) of gasoline. We breath in C02 (along with oxygen and nitrogen) with every breath we take – with no harmful effects.
Breathe in some of the gasses emitted by an EV fire and see what it does to your health.
Ask a fireman about that.
They use heavy duty gear – including self-contained breathing systems – to avoid breathing the emissions of EV battery fires. Because they’d die if they didn’t.
And they have special, expensive additional equipment to deal with EV battery fires that can only be suppressed rather than extinguished. For example (as in the video above) a special blanket to wrap the EV in, so as to try to dampen the fire. The soldering hulk is then dragged onto a flatbed and convoyed – with escorts – to the junkyard, where it must be set as far away from the other junk that’s already there, in order to prevent the smoldering hulk from catching all of that on fire, too.
EVs can also catch fire – and keep burning – when exposed to water.
https://youtu.be/MocjA8G2saI?si=ByJZISnz_5Dy4VGD
Under water.
You can probably guess who’s going to pay for all of this.
Expect your property tax bill to go up (again) in order to provide the fire department in your town/county with the additional equipment it needs to deal with the problem of EV battery fires – arising from the EV problem of spontaneous combustion. In addition to the problem of EVs catching fire when struck in an accident, which they are more prone to because all that’s needed to start a runaway reaction is damage to the battery pack.
A spark – the second necessary factor in a gasoline fire – is not necessary for a conflagration.
Expect something else, too.
Expect your insurance – both car and home – to increase, even if you do not own an EV or park one anywhere near your home. The costs generated by those who do own them will be transferred over to you, just the same as the cost of throwing away an otherwise-repairable car that is an economic throw-away due to the cost of replacing multiple air bags relative to the value of the car, itself, is already reflected in the costs were forced to pay for the insurance we’re required to buy.
In addition to what we’re (effectively) forced to buy when we buy a new car equipped with the air bags we’re required to buy as part of the deal. It’s interesting to note that these “safety” devices also have a tendency to catch fire spontaneously – as when their “inflator” system spontaneously triggers and the bag blows up in the victim’s face.
The air bag risk can be reduced but never eliminated. Just the same as regards EV battery pack spontaneous combustion.
It is interesting that such risks are considered acceptable by the very same people who often insist that any risk they regard as “too risky” must be ameliorated by any means they say necessary, no matter how much it costs.
And no matter how little the gain.