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Well, I get the point many things we own in the household are already fire hazards. But at least those are either small enough that we can wait for them to burn

Well, I get the point many things we own in the household are already fire hazards. But at least those are either small enough that we can wait for them to burn out on their own (phone batteries) or we can reasonably put out with a fire extinguisher or hose. What exactly are we supposed to do with a large li-on battery burning in the garage? Give up and call insurance?

vegetablepotpie 5y ago
What do you do if your car catches on fire in your garage? You call your insurance. How often does that happen? I would say not very, even though gasoline is highly volatile. The onus is on designers and manufacturers to make Li-Ion fires so rare that consumers effectively ignore the risk.
- mrjin 5y ago
  For conventional cars you might still have a chance to put out the fire using fire extinguishers as the highly combustive materials, mainly fuels, are actually contained and they will not be a problem until vital structures compromised and such deterioration can be avoided by routine services. But there is not much you can do for Li-Ion batteries. Lithium spikes grow each time you charge the battery and eventually those spikes will penetrate membrane between electrodes, beyond which point the explosion will be inevitable: the process needs no air and will not stop until energy stored in the cell fully discharged. For small batteries we can prevent situation from deteriorating by putting them in water. But there is not much can be done for the size in a Tesla. I've seen video footages of two accidently involving those, one was a couple of years ago in the car park of a Shanghai apartment. Started with just a little bit smoke, but in just around 10 seconds, the Tesla was beyond redemption. Luckily there was no casualties. The other one was a tragedy. A guy brought a e-bike in to a lift and just when the lift door was about to close the battery started to burn. Unfortunately they missed the vital second that could stopped the lift door from closing. It turned several people severely burnt, including a baby.
Mountain_Skies 5y ago
Fire departments trained and equipped for such fires is the most likely answer though it's possible we'll end up with outbuildings that house the batteries much like garages and stables were detached from homes until automobile were considered safe enough to be parked in a home attached structure.
throwawayboise 5y ago
Natural gas leaks in a house have been known to destroy the house and all the surrounding houses when they blow up.

vegetablepotpie 5y ago

What do you do if your car catches on fire in your garage? You call your insurance. How often does that happen? I would say not very, even though gasoline is highly volatile. The onus is on designers and manufacturers to make Li-Ion fires so rare that consumers effectively ignore the risk.

mrjin 5y ago
For conventional cars you might still have a chance to put out the fire using fire extinguishers as the highly combustive materials, mainly fuels, are actually contained and they will not be a problem until vital structures compromised and such deterioration can be avoided by routine services. But there is not much you can do for Li-Ion batteries. Lithium spikes grow each time you charge the battery and eventually those spikes will penetrate membrane between electrodes, beyond which point the explosion will be inevitable: the process needs no air and will not stop until energy stored in the cell fully discharged. For small batteries we can prevent situation from deteriorating by putting them in water. But there is not much can be done for the size in a Tesla. I've seen video footages of two accidently involving those, one was a couple of years ago in the car park of a Shanghai apartment. Started with just a little bit smoke, but in just around 10 seconds, the Tesla was beyond redemption. Luckily there was no casualties. The other one was a tragedy. A guy brought a e-bike in to a lift and just when the lift door was about to close the battery started to burn. Unfortunately they missed the vital second that could stopped the lift door from closing. It turned several people severely burnt, including a baby.

Mountain_Skies 5y ago

Fire departments trained and equipped for such fires is the most likely answer though it's possible we'll end up with outbuildings that house the batteries much like garages and stables were detached from homes until automobile were considered safe enough to be parked in a home attached structure.

throwawayboise 5y ago

Natural gas leaks in a house have been known to destroy the house and all the surrounding houses when they blow up.