Comment on Sad part is this is probably safer than an EV
nixpa@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Keep in mind if a EV battery catches on fire, it doesn’t actually explode and takes a while to actually consume the car. If a gasoline engine catches fire, 100% explosion risk and you may actually die when the car becomes engulfed in flames.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You don’t call this an explosion?
piped.video/watch?v=sAQlLu5ttOk
nixpa@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yes, you are only proving my point. That EV had nearly a full minute starting from when it began smoking to when it caught on fire. It didn’t explode, but caught fire underneath the car because that’s where the battery is. It only looked like an explosion because the bright flames in a dark garage caused the crappy security camera to go white as it adjusted to the lighting change.
A gas car catching on fire is much more dangerous. It instantly engulfs the car and spreads quickly because the fuel is not a large battery underneath the car but flammable liquid all under the hood of the car and just behind the dashboard. The fire can easily get into the cabin and quickly burns the car from the inside out.
piped.video/watch?v=pgz__MG4OSI
piped.video/watch?v=3DBFVb2a7Mo
piped.video/watch?v=OxYKm828QZk
I’m not denying that EVs can catch fire. They catch fire as often as the phone in your pocket does. I do notice that most of the EVs catching fire online that I found seemed to be Teslas. There’s something to be said about that as Teslas are the most common EV on the market and may not be the best produced EV out of any others on the market. I personally drive a Nissan Leaf and it hasn’t caught fire since 2014 when it was made. The point I’m making here is that if a gas car and an EV both catch fire, the EV’s fire will give you time to escape and will be less deadly than a gas car’s fire. And gas car fires are more common and happen more often than there are EV fires, see for yourself:
motortrend.com/…/you-are-wrong-about-ev-fires?sli…
“According to MSB data, there are nearly 611,000 EVs and hybrids in Sweden as of 2022. With an average of 16 EV and hybrid fires per year, there’s a 1 in 38,000 chance of fire. There are a total of roughly 4.4 million gas- and diesel-powered passenger vehicles in Sweden, with an average of 3,384 fires per year, for a 1 in 1,300 chance of fire. That means gas- and diesel-powered passenger vehicles are 29 times more likely to catch fire than EVs and hybrids.”
“Not having an engine and its accompanying mechanical systems might actually reduce the risk of a vehicle fire. According to the NFPA, the leading cause of vehicle fires is mechanical failure or malfunction, accounting for 45 percent of all such fires. Electrical problems are a distant second, accounting for 23 percent of the total. Not having gasoline, hot exhaust, and controlled explosions on board significantly reduces the possible ways for a fire to start.”
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Well clearly we have different opinions on what’s considered an explosion and what isn’t. That Tesla wasn’t even running and still decided to pop. Anyways…
How about this, how about let’s eliminate the vehicle altogether, as each model is built differently and any number of potential flaws in design can trigger a fire or explosion.
Let’s look at the fuel source alone. Let’s say you place a 16 gallon gas tank, half full of gasoline, off in one corner of a garage, and take a lithium ion battery pack off in the other corner of the garage, half charged.
All other things being equal, and no electricity is even run to this garage to have any reason to trigger any spark. Now, just leave them sit there for a few years or so. Which one is more likely to blow up for no good reason except age? 🤔
Gasoline by itself don’t just blow up because it’s having a bad emotional day, but lithium sometimes will, just because one of the many cells had a subtle manufacturing defect. And it only takes one worn out or defective cell to trigger a catastrophic chain reaction.
Plus, under normal conditions where the lithium batteries don’t decide to take a shit, how long do they last before the battery pack is too worn out to continue using and needs to be replaced?
Those battery packs cost so much you might as well get another vehicle. That’s about as absurd as saying your gas tank got a hole in it, and it costs so much to replace that you might as well consider the vehicle totalled out.
A gas tank doesn’t just up and wear out like that, and even if it does get a hole in it, those can usually be patched with epoxy specially made just for that, or get a new gas tank, which doesn’t cost anywhere near as much as a lithium battery pack.
Not saying gasoline is great for the environment, never did, but when it comes to vehicles I prefer a fuel that won’t blow up for no good reason even if the car isn’t running. Plus add on top of that lithium batteries have been known to re-ignite themselves hours or even days later after they’ve been extinguished.
These days they’re highly suggesting to not park EV’s inside of a garage. That doesn’t sound very comforting if you ask me.