32 thousand US gallons to put out a burning Tesla

[Petrol Pete]

Two passengers died in the inferno, I say passengers because the report says the car was driving itself and it drove them into a tree .

That is a tragedy and RIP to those killed and condolences to their families. My post is not about Teslas crashing themselves it's about putting out the flames afterwards.

I know we have touched on this before but this seems like a real and present danger to other road users, after 100 years of motoring firefighters world wide have a pretty good handle on car fires but this is a whole new ball game. A normal car fire in a road tunnel is pretty devastating, but one of these burning away for hours on end would be much worse.

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[davymead]

And we’re looking at potentially 30 odd million EV’s at that.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Its just occurred to me that is about 120 tons of water , most of which will go down a drain somewhere.

Great for the environment Luckily it's a rare occurrence.

 

[Flyinspanner]

Wow..... not quite so environmentally friendly.....

 

[MercedesDriver]

The most concerning is that the fire brigade had to call Tesla to ask how to put out the fire.

 

[Petrol Pete]

I agree ^^^ but I doubt they have had the experience of putting out a fire on a battery quite that big . I have no doubt they might have had some visual and/or written instruction on a burning EV but it's unlikely Tesla (or any EV manufacturer) have given each fire department a battery pack to set fire to and practice on....maybe they should ..unlikely to happen.

Just how big are the batteries going to be on the fleet of EV articulated tucks the world has been promised going to be ?

 

[markjay]

Elon Musk denies the auto-pilot story:

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Elon Musk denies the auto-pilot story:

I saw a tweet he’d made on the subject. Apparently the car concerned wasn’t equipped with it. Easy enough to prove, assuming you trust Tesla to be truthful. He also pointed out that the road the car had been on didn’t have line markings, so even if the car had been equipped it FSD, it wouldn’t have engaged anyway.

Anything involving a Tesla (or other EV) is going to get coverage out of all proportion it seems. Any meaningful report is going to have to include some kind of context around passenger miles covered per accident. It‘s like air crashes, they always seem to get folk all exercised, where the steady flow of ‘ordinary’ road traffic deaths doesn’t even make the news most of the time.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Always worth pausing before jumping to the conclusion that your prejudices want to.

We've talked about the fire issue on EV's earlier. British Firemen are briefed on the EV issue - but that doesn't mean that they necessarily know how to get 30,000 gallons of water to any specific situation - like on the M25, for example.

the fire is a problem, and is difficult to extinguish, but it isn't the towering inferno that people are imagining, rather fires that keep breaking out - because of all the energy in that wretched battery.

Here's recent coverage from Car and Driver: Tesla Fire in Texas Crash Was Not How It Was Reported, Says Fire Chief

Headline image here:

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Let's not forget that even million pound Ferrari F40's full of explosive petrol have been known to catch fire.

(Note the guy on the balcony trying to "put the fire out" by using his garden hose on the F40.

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[Deleted member 126969]

There is way more energy in a tank of petrol than in an EV battery, but it’s generally easier to extinguish, and of course, once the battery reaches a critical temperature, you aren't talking about the electrochemical energy, it's purely the chemical energy embodied in the components, the lithium being the problem as it’s a reactive alkali metal.

Longer term, I suspect other chemistries will come to the fore so we can hope that future batteries won’t be quite so troublesome as the current(!) tech is.


eta. That report @MikeInWimbledon linked to has some context as it happens. It seems Tesla EVs are over 10 times more safe than ICE in terms or miles covered per fire incident (205 million per accident for Tesla vs. 19 million for ICE). That’s a bit of info that didn’t hit the headlines.... Also telling what the fire chief had to say on the matter. It wasn’t a 4 hour inferno the press would have us believe. Still, ‘car catches fire after crash and fire is extinguished’ isn’t quite the click-bait is it.

 

[AW8]

I am open minded re fully electric cars as well as antonymous systems (ADAS). That said I feel its is desirable if ADAS cars don't crash too often. As for fires on EV's....its quite handy to be able to extinguish them.

As for the alleged comments nobody was in the driver seat....ridiculous.

I would need some convincing before using autopilot.....I would want to know cars can cope with info overload , (from multiple signs & traffic volume) in central London cause me some concern, worn or lack of decent lane markings on rural roads another concerns.

Personally I think use should only be software allowed on roads that authorised as being up to spec.

Anyway...as Op has said this is about fire and water..............sure that's a lot of water.

Surprised stateside trumpton didn't smother it in foam or use dry powder.

 

[markjay]

.. how to get 30,000 gallons of water to any specific situation - like on the M25, for example...

The fact that firefighters in Texas used 30,000 gallons of water.... does not mean that this is how an EV fire should be extinguished.

I am sure that in time firefighters will develop practical techniques and new materials to effectively combat EV battery fires (just like they did with planes, for example).

 

[fabes]

Muppets.

As AW8 suggests above, it's foam for electrical fires, or those with lithium in. Extinguisher training 101

UK brigades (and sprinkler companies) have been adopting this for a while, including EVs road side fires.
I understand our big red trucks have foam on board...

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Muppets.

As AW8 suggests above, it's foam for electrical fires, or those with lithium in. Extinguisher training 101

UK brigades (and sprinkler companies) have been adopting this for a while, including EVs road side fires.
I understand our big red trucks have foam on board...

I’m sure I read somewhere that Tesla advised using water for EV fires, despite it being counter intuitive based upon all conventional thinking on electrical fires.

 

[whitenemesis]

An interesting read and indeed water is recommended

First Responders | Tesla UK

First Responders information that assists in safely handling emergency situations involving Tesla vehicles.

www.tesla.com

 

[MrGreedy]

I work for a company that stores EV batteries. The manufacturer data sheets say water for fires.

I would imagine it would be a brave fire team that uses something else and the person that gives the authorisation to use something else.

 

[markjay]

I am guessing that the issue isn't simply to deprive the fire of oxygen, but mainly to cool down the batteries?

 

[whitenemesis]

^^^^ as above, this is the primary reason for using sater

 

[Athey]

Better equip the fire engines with powder as well as water. My condolences to the families who have lost loved ones.