Arson feared as two Teslas burn within blocks of each other in S.F

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/tesla-fires-soma-18686583.php

by gnicholas • 2 years ago

15 7 2 years ago

gnicholas2• 2 years ago

It's shocking to see how easily the car went up in flames. Would this happen with any kind of vehicle, given the energy contained within a tire? Or is this partly because of where the most-flammable bits are inside a Tesla?

iknowstuff2• 2 years ago

Where did you see how quickly it got on fire?

BEV fires are less likely than ICE fires.

That being said when batteries get on fire they burn long but slowly. Gas explodes.

gnicholas2• 2 years ago

https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/tesla-car-fires-burned-s...

BEV fires are less likely than ICE fires.

I feel like I hear about more fires affecting EVs that are parked/off than similar-age ICE vehicles that are parked/off. Is that just reporting bias, or is it that ICE vehicles are more likely to burn in collisions, and that outweighs the parked/off fires?

JoeMattiello• 2 years ago

Gas doesn’t explode, not very easily, at least.

Lithium batteries are much more likely to combust or explode spontaneously in the absence of spark.

Also, lithium batteries only burn as slowly as their designs allow. Poorly made Lion packs will burn faster than equivalent energy-dense amount of liquid gasoline exposed to standard atmosphere.

Where is the data suggesting that EVs are less likely to happen than ICE?

stephen_g• 2 years ago

Probably - I knew somebody whose Rav 4 spontaneously started smoking from under the hood while she was driving on the freeway (this was probably 15 years ago), she pulled over and got out and within a few minutes the whole thing was completely up in flames.

Tyres are part of it, but then think of the oily residues that build up around the engine, the rubber hoses, plastic bumpers, etc. - not to mention the entire interior all being quite flammable.

Arson feared as two Teslas burn within blocks of each other in S.F

Related Stories