Posted on 10/10/2020 10:57:31 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19
The National Transportation Safety Board says the U.S. is woefully unprepared to deal with EV fires, which require different strategies than gasoline vehicle fires.
31 percent of fire departments don't train for EV fires, and half say they don't have special protocols in place to deal with EVs after a crash, the agency's report found.
Note the caveats, though. There are more than 29,000 fire departments in the U.S. This survey only asked for information from 32 of them.
If you have been reading Car and Driver for a while, there's a decent chance you remember the news when a Tesla Model S caught fire in 2013. Or that the NTSB was investigating Tesla fires in 2019. Or when a Porsche Taycan went up in flames earlier this year.
You might remember those things, because electric-vehicle fires make headlines. Of course, the reality is that, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), an average of 171,500 highway vehicle fires happened in the United States each year from 2014 through 2016, and the vast majority of them were in gasoline-powered cars.
Nonetheless, electric vehicles are still a shiny new thing to many people, and when something goes wrong with them, we notice. Automakers build safety systems into their battery packs, including rapid discharging in the event of a crash, but fires still happen, just as they can with gasoline-powered vehicles.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
He added that electric vehicles involved in accidents should be kept 50 feet away from any buildings or other vehicles after an accident.
https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2019/05/29/electric-cars-battery-fires/3705023002/
https://www.advancedextrication.com/
Well, to be fair, this lockdown crap has made getting marshmallows and weenie dogs difficult.
Couple years ago a passed an electric car fire on the interstate. The car was completely engulfed with flames shooting 100 ft high.
Another thing to worry about, when the voltage drops you can not get out of car. Heard of a case or two where driver burnt inside with rescuers unable to help victim out of car after an accident and electric actuated door did not work
I don’t have an electric vehicle, but I have a 6-D battery Maglite in my car.
“Another thing to worry about, when the voltage drops you can not get out of car. Heard of a case or two where driver burnt inside with rescuers unable to help victim out of car after an accident and electric actuated door did not work”
Source? Doors are not electric actuated!
That last was less “electric car” and more “bad door design” - not all electric cars lack manual releases, and there are gasoline powered cars that don’t have manual door releases. The E65/E66 versions of the BMW 7-series is notorious for this, to the point where the system failed on an Asian VIP’s car, locking all passengers inside, and a bodyguard had to use his rifle to shoot and bash out an armored window to get everyone out.
Don’t tell Antifa.
...fires still happen, just as they can with gasoline-powered vehicles.
Ah... Burning lithium mixed with all that other good stuff is always good for the environment.
Um, there’s a number of modern cars that have electrically actuated mechanisms.
Electric car where driver died because of electric door release mechanism:
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/man-burned-alive-fiery-tesla-crash-door-open/story?id=66498159
Gasoline car where a sledgehammer (not a rifle - sorry, got confused with another similar report) had to be used because of electric door release mechanism:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030512/1530243_F.shtml/
https://www.smh.com.au/technology/computer-glitch-traps-thai-minister-in-bmw-20030513-gdgr7n.html
Modern luxury car double glazed windows laugh at your 6 cell Maglite.
“Um, there’s a number of modern cars that have electrically actuated mechanisms.”
Um, not electrically actuated doors. The X has electric doors but the can be pushed opem.
Um, that’s not what kept the guy in the Tesla (or the BMW) - the door locks were electric with no mechanical connection or override. If the electric lock mechanism jams, you cannot open that door. If the electric lock mechanism jams on all the doors, you’re screwed.
I don’t own a luxury car, and I never will.
I like reliability, and old American muscle for fun.
Worst investments:
New cars
Time shares
Young women
That doesn’t look good.
Double glazed windows have been becoming standard on lower and lower spec vehicles. The F-150 got them in 2015, for example.
Luxury cars started getting them in the 90s.
If you like reliability, why do you like old American muscle? :P
“Um, that’s not what kept the guy in the Tesla (or the BMW) - the door locks were electric with no mechanical connection or override”
Tesla front door locks have manual override from the inside.
When air bags deploy, all outside door handles are supposed to extend.
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