Flooded Teslas are catching fireplace in Hurricane Ian’s wake

Firefighters throughout the nation have needed to revise their car fireplace protocols as extra EVs hit the streets. Lithium-ion battery fires are notoriously tough to extinguish utilizing conventional fireplace hoses, and lots of fires take hundreds of gallons of water to place out. Burning Teslas get all the eye, however all manufacturers are prone. Nevertheless, Tesla is getting extra consideration this week: Reviews of a number of fires are popping up as floodwaters from Hurricane Ian recede.

NewsNation reported that a minimum of 4 Teslas had caught fireplace prior to now week. Saltwater and lithium-ion batteries don’t combine, because the salt corrodes and might injury delicate parts inside the battery or surrounding structure. As soon as a fireplace begins, it’s exceedingly tough to extinguish due to the intense warmth. After which there’s the potential for battery packs to reignite even days after the preliminary fireplace.

Tesla’s steerage on fireplace response for the Mannequin S notes that between 3,000 and eight,000 gallons of water may very well be wanted to extinguish a fireplace – three to eight instances greater than a fuel car fireplace. On the identical time, the potential to reignite has led some fireplace departments to completely submerge autos in contemporary water for a interval to forestall the difficulty.

Tesla fires make information, however any EV uncovered to saltwater might expertise the identical issues. As NewsNation factors out, there have been just a few high-profile incidents involving battery fires. Most notably, a ship carrying tens of millions of {dollars} in Porsches and Bentleys went up in flames and sank within the Atlantic after vehicles carrying lithium-ion batteries caught fireplace in its cargo maintain.

It’s price noting that EV fires are exceedingly uncommon, regardless of their skill to make headlines. There are fewer EV fires per 100,000 autos than there are for fuel or hybrid vehicles.