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> I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. I just passed a car completely engulfed in flames on I-95, yesterday. I pass one ever
by yardie 10y ago
> I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames.
I just passed a car completely engulfed in flames on I-95, yesterday. I pass one every few weeks. It seems to happen more often in summer. Except for local traffic updates it's so common national news doesn't bother to pick it up unless there is a fatality.
- ethbro 10y ago... Say what you want about the tenets of automotive electrification, but moving electricity around a vehicle seems a lot safer than piping a combustible fluid.
- yardie 10y agoWell, one way to look at it is fuel is a very dense battery. 1 liter of diesel has about 10kWh. 2 gallons of the stuff has as much stored energy as a fully charged Tesla Model S. I think as battery storage gets denser these fires will become more common. Because there is just so much energy packed into such a small package.
- dsfyu404ed 10y agoAnd it WILL be released if the pack is breached.
- ethbro 10y agoI suppose shorts are easier to cause by physical breaching than fire by introduction of spark (e.g. you can puncture a gas tank and still not have it burst into flames without ignition). But on the other hand, I'd assume the majority of car fires are caused by either fuel or oil lines into the engine being punctured and leaking around something hot enough to ignite them. Over a longer maintenance period (10 years+), I'd still bet on insulation over physical containment of a pumped liquid.