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A fire in an airplane is a lot more scary than a loss of power (proportionally more so in a small airplane, where an off-field landing is feasible, and increasi
by mannykannot 7y ago
A fire in an airplane is a lot more scary than a loss of power (proportionally more so in a small airplane, where an off-field landing is feasible, and increasingly they have ballistic parachutes), while there is currently a well-known problem of fires (that can't be extinguished) in high-power-density batteries. Gasoline is dangerous, but we have learned how to handle it safely.
- rbanffy 7y agoYou could mount batteries on pods that could be released if needed. Additional benefit would be that the pods could be replaced on the ground by fully charged ones for faster turnaround.
- vosper 7y agoYou can't really rain burning battery pods down on the landscape, though. What if the plane is over a populated area?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- zdragnar 7y agoOr a dry forest, or grassland. Burning lithium probably can't be all that good for ponds, rivers or lakes either.
- frenchyatwork 7y agoBurning lithium in a pond sounds awfully spectacular, with an emphasis on the awful.
- _ph_ 7y agoOne is actually supposed to use water for large lithium battery fires, Tesla recommends this. The lithium in batteries isn't elemental and thus does not react strongly with the water.
- Gracana 7y agoYou're not supposed to drop burning planes out of the sky either, but sometimes it happens.