Posted on 07/26/2023 10:03:24 AM PDT by DFG
The race is on to prevent the sinking of a cargo ship off the Dutch coast which is carrying almost 3,000 vehicles, including 350 Mercedes-Benz, as it burns out of control with an electric car believed to be behind the deadly fire.
At least one crew member died and others were injured after fire ripped through the Fremantle Highway, a 18,500-ton car-carrying vessel. Rescue helicopters and boats evacuated 23 crew members from the Panamanian-registered ship.
Officials have said there are 'many' wounded. Some suffered broken bones, burns and breathing problems and were taken to hospitals in the northern Netherlands, emergency officials said.
Seven crew members jumped overboard and were rescued from the water, while the rest were airlifted by helicopter. Dutch broadcaster NOS reported that all the crew were Indian.
This afternoon, the ship was said to be burning out of control in the North Sea and rescue vessels were working to save it from sinking close to one of the world's most important migratory bird habitats.
'Currently there are a lot of vessels on scene to monitor the situation and to see how to get the fire under control,' coast guard spokeswoman Lea Versteeg told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
'But it's all depending on weather and the damage to the vessel, so we're currently working out how we can make sure that... the least bad situation is going to happen.'
Asked if it is possible the ship could sink, Ms Versteeg said: 'It's a scenario we're taking into account and we're preparing for all scenarios.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Who wants to fly on an airliner that might catch fire mid-flight?
-PJ
“Maybe the battery packs should be shipped separately from the cars and installed at the point of delivery.”
You would still have to ship the batteries, which would still be a big fire hazard.
I’m not sure if it would help to ship the cars (or batteries) with very little charge.
As bad as this accident is, just wait until a lithium battery causes a fire on a commercial aitliner.
Bremmen, Germany to Port Said, Egypt is 3079 miles by land. Google maps that there is one ferry on the route. By passing it add three miles to the route and running on the Israeli side of their border with Jordan.
We actually don’t know the origination and destination of the vehicles so the land routes might be slightly different.
Germany, Czechia Republic, Hungary, Solvakia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Sinai, and then into Egypt.
Moist salty sea air and unsealed batter compartments don’t mix.
Ford has not one but two batt plants going up in the Heartland for a total investment of $17B. They will power everything in the next 5 years, from Ford SuperTruck to Hyundai's Ioniq -- oh wait, that's already full batt.
Look, if you want to be clever about this paradigm shit shift, get a couple of pole barns, put the best climate control (irony!) and fire suppressant (more irony!) systems you can buy, and fill them with dozens of every ICE you can get your hands on: new, used, it won't matter as long as the internal combustion engine runs.
Who knew Red Barchetta would actually come true. Well, I guess Neil did (RIP).
What will be interesting by then is acquiring gas. Since aviation fuel and other hydrocarbons will still be in demand, there will be a wild black market for gasoline, maybe even retro kits for diesel and biofuels. How ironic! that ethanol may actually save the day.
Can’t. Most EVs have the batteries mounted in the frame. Since they are mounted in the frame, small accidents end up totalling the vehicles since they would have to dissemble the vehicle and check each of the battery sub-elements for damage ... it’s not feasible.
Other good points raised.
That’s a design defect, IMO.
fire caused by electric car, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, doesnt sea water or water in general have an effect on these climate change vehicules
See tag.
Happens when there are no rednecks or cool headed engineers in congress. Fiat money floods gates open wide for the ignorant tree huggers.
Another thing to consider is almost all new golf carts are lithium batteries. I wonder how many cart barn fires at golf courses and country clubs there have been in the last few years. Something tells me there will be more.
Maybe the battery packs should be shipped separately from the cars and installed at the point of delivery.
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When EVs first started to ‘become a bit of a thing’, I had the thought that the companies making the cars should get together and come up with a standardized battery shape and shape. When a person buys a car, the battery shouldn’t come with it. What a person does is buy kWh when they go to a charging station... the battery is charged when it is installed and can be changed out at any other charging station when it is depleted. The kWh used is established and charged to the user.
While minimizing risks like this fire, there are two massive advantages to this approach... the first is that all the batteries can be charged during off-peak hours (therefore much cheaper kWh) and the second is that there is essentially no wait time. Show up at the charging station, depleted battery is yanked out, fully charged battery is inserted. If this was done right, the time at the charging station would be like pulling into the pits at Indy.
Maybe the battery packs should be shipped separately from the cars and installed at the point of delivery.
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When EVs first started to ‘become a bit of a thing’ and it was clear there might be a bunch of them coming down the pipe, I had the thought that the companies making the cars should get together and come up with a standardized battery shape. When a person buys a car, the battery doesn’t come with it. What a person does is buy kWh when they go to a charging station... the battery is charged when they get it and is changed out at any other charging station. The kWh used is established and charged to the user.
While minimizing risks like this, there are two big advantages to this approach... the first is that all the batteries can be charged during off-peak hours (therefore much cheaper kWh) and the second is that there is essentially no wait time. Show up at the charging station, depleted battery is yanked out, fully charged battery is inserted. If this was done right, the time at the charging station would be like pulling into the pits at Indy.
What were they made of in the past? I'm not that old.
Yes,
In ‘22 I ship loaded with exotic cars sank after a fire in the Atlantic.
Over 1000 Porsche went with it.
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There is a ferry I often take in the summer.... it’s about a 2 hour ride. The length of the boat is about 400 feet and I think it holds maybe 200 cars. After this Atlantic event in ‘22, I shot off an email to the ferry operator asking them what their provisions and procedures were for dealing with electric car fires should one happen mid-crossing. I got the automatic ‘we’ve received your message and will get back to you’... but of course they never did.
I can tell you one thing... until I hear something that assures me that they got it figured out on how to deal with an onboard EV fire, I won’t be taking any ferries.
What if its parked in the middle and catches fire? Who’s going to crawl under it and release the tie downs?
I like your idea but just a couple questions that came to mind.
It sounds kind of like the Blue Rhino propane tank exchange.
Yes... similar to that. With electronics being what it is, it’s no problem to just sell kWh. That way if somebody wanted to return a half charged one for a full one, no problem.
The trick will be logistics of how the exchange is actually made since the batteries are so heavy but it’s not really a problem if everything is designed right for doing it. The one hitch is that it does mean that car designers have a fixed issue that they now would need to design around... and that obviously will have impact on their design creativity.
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