A Bridge Too Far: EV Explosions?

28 degrees here this morning. If I had an EV, I would have had to walk to the grocery store.

Author says, if there is another cause (other than ev) for the rainbow bridge explosion, i would like to hear it. Probably he doe not. Bentley does not yet make an EV car, destroying Author’s story. Bentley does make a hybrid with a small 18 kwh lithium battery. The conflagration was pretty intense…certainly not a detonation, not even an explosion. The gas tank has an equivalent kwh (approx) of 1000 kwh. Place your bets, but it looks to me that the tank was ripped open, contents released, and fire.

Recently a fire in a four level, open air car park at England's Luton Airport caused the loss of over a thousand vehicles and the partial collapse of the structure. The damage was unimaginable. Whatever's left inside is not recoverable. A video of the fire (in a diesel hybrid Land Rover) that began the destruction shows flames shooting out sideways from just behind the front left wheel. That's where the hybrid unit is located. In a recent video an auto mechanic poured a few ounces of gasoline into the concave part of an automotive engine piston, and lit it. After ten minutes of burning, the flame had reached 840 C. (1,544 F.), plenty hot, but not hot enough to melt concrete and reinforcing steel (rebar), with melting temperatures somewhat above that, maybe in the low 2,000s F. Trying online to find an accurate temperature for Li-ion (lithium ion) fires is more difficult than it should be, perhaps because the powers-that-be want us all in electric transportation, and they know we'd be alarmed if we found out that these e-truck, e-car, e-bike, and e-scooter fires are burning at 2,000 to 2,500 C. (3,632 to 4,532 F.). Yes, these e-fires can easily burn down entire concrete and steel car parks. When an e-fire kills dozens in a subterranean car park, or in a Lincoln-Holland-Midtown tunnel location, sunny Green opinions will turn dark. I wouldn't want to live near one of these vehicles. Unacceptable fire risks, in addition to every specific point Solway made. Give me gasoline or diesel.

Who knows? EVs could be a good investment - worth a lot in a few years. Fully functioning Stanley Steamers with the original parts go for 150k + these days.

#3 The adiabatic flame temp of gasoline is 2138C, lithium 2438C. I will go out on a limb here and state that most of Li in a cell is present in a solid, semi oxidized molecular form…certainly enough to sizzle as it burns, but not reaching pure Li flame temp. Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adiabatic_flame_temperature

The author could have done a simple search to find out if Bentley makes an EV. Answer , not until 2025. Why the laziness?

#3. All I can find on the Lutron fire is that the initiating vehicle was rumored to be a hybrid, the fire department said it was a diesel truck, its gas tank exploded, flames spread and other vehicles added to the fire

We just bought a New Car last week. Kept the previous car for 12 years, so it was time! Anyway, there were several EV's on the Lot, so we decided to ask the Salesman if they were selling any of them. The answer was no! He said most everyone refuses to even look at or drive one. No interest at all! I'm betting that's what is happening at Dealerships all over the Country! Doesn't matter how many perks Biden offers Buyers, they're not interested!!

Links to video of that very vehicle burning in multiple articles are readily available. The fire from that hybrid showed intense flames shooting out horizontally from behind the front left wheel, a lithium ion fire. Diesel doesn't explode on its own, nor does gasoline, and all fires in ICE vehicles are extinguished routinely by local FDs. E-vehicle fires, which must include hybrids, are the bane of fire departments. A local firefighter-EMT just laughed when I asked him if he would have a Volt or Tesla. Then he said, "Never. Too dangerous." Wikipedia can be a useful source for info that doesn't have any political angle to it. E-cars are, unfortunately, as political as hell, and anything Wiki says on this subject is suspect. They're right up there with PolitiFact and Fact Check. Trust them at your peril.

The Bentley he was driving was 2022 Bentley Flying Spur -- high performance vehicle. It does come in a 2.9 litre V6 hybrid, featuring a 100 kW electric motor - not sure how "big" the battery is, but the whole thing is still extremely weird. There has got to be more to the story, but I'm sure we'll never get the truth.

Saw a video yesterday of an electric bus burning in downtown London. The irony is the area was designated a clean-air zone with no gas vehicles allowed. The huge plumes of toxic smoke couldn’t have been equaled by gas vehicles in 10 years.

#9. It is likely that left front is also the location of the 12v, which is also a good suspect in the initiation of the fire. Time will tell

12v lead acid batteries have been around forever, are in most cars, are the main power source for electric golf carts, and are not known to explode or cause serious fires without outside assistance. A close friend had a 7,500 pound 2009 GMC Yukon, 6.2 liter gasoline V-8, with hybrid assist, although its hybrid power source wasn't a lithium ion battery--it was 24 normal sized lead acid batteries, stored under the back seat. GM made those vehicles for one year, then for some reason ceased. There was no 2010 model of the Yukon hybrid.

Saturday morning car talk radio program in my area hosted by local dealers. Lately the talk has been mostly about the advantages of EVs. I suspect their inventories are large and they ain't selling.

I read a story last week that said this ferry operating in Europe outlawed electric cars. Not because they catch fire, but because when they do they cannot be put out.