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Electric vehicle battery causes fire at Sydney Airport, destroys five cars
- bluescrn 3y agoBattery was detached from the vehicle?? Are people trying to steal battery packs now, then? - for what other reason would a detached battery be lying next to vehicles in a car park? (I've always thought that EV battery packs should be standardised, with several easy-ish to replace/upgrade modules per car. But if they make up half the value of the vehicle or so, they also need to be very theft-resistant...)
- Neil44 3y agoWas it being transported or worked on I wonder? Evedently without sufficient care!
- jstanley 3y agoIt is probably too early for standardised EV batteries, because we still don't know if there are innovations that will end up being useful but which won't fit whatever standard you come up with.
- tempaway12641 3y agoBattery packs have a lot of innovation in them, its not just a load of batteries lashed together. There's monitoring systems, cooling, balancing. And squeezing more efficiency out of them is very important. So standardisation of EV battery packs is about as likely as having standardised swappable petrol engines.
- bluescrn 3y agoThe internals of the packs can vary over time, so long as they're a standardised size with standardised connections. Ideally, once a pack is degraded, maybe after a decade, you'll be able to buy less expensive replacements that have more range, or even used packs salvaged from written-off vehicles - rather than scrapping the whole vehicle.
- ilyt 3y agoI'd be more surprised if they didn't. While they are more PITA to steal than cat just because of weight, they are also worth significantly more. > (I've always thought that EV battery packs should be standardised, with several easy-ish to replace/upgrade modules per car. But if they make up half the value of the vehicle or so, they also need to be very theft-resistant...) If you're there to steal few hundred kg battery pack you probably have angle grinder with you. Nothing says "no" to angle grinder.
- lm28469 3y ago> Nothing says "no" to angle grinder. I'm pretty sure cutting the wrong part of a car battery would be a big "no", and maybe the last "no" of your life
- ilyt 3y agoThe angle grinder doesn't care. The angle grinder grinds. It's the human that's weak here.
- toxik 3y agoJust do what Apple does and add a BMS that’s coded to the ECU or so. Can be worked around of course but definitely makes it harder.
- mcbain 3y agohttps://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/five-cars-destroyed-at-sydney-airport-after-battery-from-luxury-electric-vehicle-ignites-20230912-p5e43h.html https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/five-cars-destroyed-at-s... “There had been some problem with the car and the battery had been removed, we believe that the car has suffered some mechanical damage which can contribute to a battery breaking down and catching fire without notice. “We don’t have a concern about this broadly, it’s not often that electric cars catch fire.”
- dzhiurgis 3y agoWhy would you standardise something that’s meant to outlast entire car?
- bluescrn 3y agoAre consumers confident about battery longevity, when most of them have had multiple experiences with phone and laptop batteries being significantly degraded after 2-5 years? And will that claimed longevity be achieved in all conditions (weather/temperature and usage patterns)? - or only in optimum conditions? Some internal combustion vehicles are kept running for several decades, with many replacement parts remaining available. But with non-standard battery packs and software locks it seems that EVs may have planned obsolescence built in, which goes entirely against the 'saving the planet' narrative.
- dzhiurgis 3y ago> phone and laptop batteries being significantly degraded after 2-5 years Which used to be useful lifetime of tech. We should be kinda gracious that we can now have laptops and phones that last nearly a decade (also kinda disappointing because progress slowed down). > Some internal combustion vehicles are kept running for several decades only in places where attention for safety is a joke. other than collectible cars (which btw are now rapidly converted into BEV) these cars are public hazard and would fail yearly safety checks in all progressive countries. > many replacement parts remaining available Thats a function of how popular car was. Tesla's parts are already one of the cheapest, there are tons of super specialised mods purely because they are manufacturing millions of cars per year. > software locks other than disabling high voltage charging due to safety (which I agree might be a bit much but there for a reason - might be even regulatory) - can you list more examples? Tesla salvage market is wild. Crashed Teslas by battery salvagers are snapped in auctions by hundreds of participants (in my small country) just purely to use their battery. > planned obsolescence built in pop media propaganda. we are at a peak of electronics recycling. companies routinely tout using 100% recycled materials. if you don't plan for obsolescence you are basically planning for pollution.
- softliving 3y agoand I don’t understand why the luxury electric vehicle brand is not disclosed? none of the news report are disclosing it how come?
- DrFlipper 3y ago[dead]
- pestatije 3y agobecause the fire was caused by a detached electric vehicle battery
- brabel 3y agoYeah, and the cause of the first seems to be related to that (you don't just remove your car's battery and leave it laying around like that) not to the brand of the vehicle... by mentioning the brand, the news site may become liable to legal action as it may be implied they were trying to blame the fire on the manufacturer.
- softliving 3y ago"I don't know the brand of the vehicle, but I'm pretty sure the manufacturers will have an interest in this," he said. he doesnt know but then which manufacturer will be interested to know more … seems like brand protection
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- TheHappyOddish 3y agoAny manufacturer would be interested. I think you're reading too much into the quote.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Eggsellence 3y ago
- mdp2021 3y ago> In cases of a lithium-ion battery fire firefighters will cool down the battery and place it in a container with water to stop re-ignitions «With water»?! Lithium? I understood that those batteries for EVs are isolated in pools of special materials (according to local maintainers). Edit: apparently, according to some, water is the way: https://interestingengineering.com/video/tips-on-fighting-a-lithium-ion-battery-fire-in-an-electric-vehicle https://interestingengineering.com/video/tips-on-fighting-a-...
- Tade0 3y agoThere's very little free lithium in lithium-ion batteries - it's usually largely bound (via intercalation) to either the kathode or the anode. The stuff that starts the fire is the electrolyte - ethylene carbonate.
- ilyt 3y agoWhat else ? If they are burning it's already too late to stop it, you're just cooling it down and reducing damage to the surrounding at that point. That's the problem with extinguishing batteries, you're not, you're just limiting the damage.
- tempaway12642 3y ago[flagged]
- ilyt 3y agoDidn't burn the everything around with it weak bait.
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoTruck set on fire, two spaces down from my truck, in a hotel parking lot. Came out in the morning to find the fire department had been there (foam, tape marking off the area etc) and the poor sap's truck was down to bare metal - no tires, seats just springs. Cab separated from box. License plate a puddle on the ground. Sucked to be him! I walked around my truck - the left side was melted like a Dali painting. All plastic parts (running board rubber, mirror, door handle, lights) horribly deformed or dripping down. Better outcome: used cars had about doubled in value so the insurance paid to have it repaired. Now I have a F150 that's new on the left side and rusty and old on the right. Anyway I get in the left side, that's what I see so it's all good. Petrols fires can be bad too.
- ncr100 3y agoBeautiful imagery. Sorry about the hassle. Glad it's repaired. The GM Saturn has a large amount of plastic. Or had. During forest fire season some dozen years ago, a photograph of the melted-through plastic door of a Saturn was published, making me think about the value of metal around the parts that protected the occupant. Yes there is steel cage material but these panels, I didn't realize, might not necessarily also be metal for certain cars.
- JoeAltmaier 3y agoYeah F150 door shells are metal (steel?) They warped and the paint changed color. So had to be replaced. But miraculously the interior was unharmed! Or so it seemed. Since then the driver-side window has misbehaved chronically. Power window wont respond, or goes halfway closed then reopens, or stops halfway. Once it rolled down on it's own! Gotta be electric short somewhere in there.
- AdamN 3y agoClickbaity title - is there any evidence that EVs go on fire more frequently than ICE cars?
- bluescrn 3y agoNot a normal 'EV catches fire' story. This is about an EV battery pack that was for some reason detached from the vehicle. In a car park.
- TheHappyOddish 3y agoAt a major international airport.
- tempaway12641 3y ago[dead]
- dijit 3y agoIt's not clickbait, it's statement of fact. "Thing happened" doesn't necessarily need to be qualified. However something to rememeber about headlines: people report on things which are noteworthy (or aligned with propaganda, but let's stick with the former). Therefore, things happening that are reported by the news as a singular occurrence are, in reality, relatively rare. This is why in a place like Coventry (where I am from) there is a really serious amount of crime (violence against people is third highest per capita in the UK) but stabbings never get reported in the newspaper, unless it was a young child or a mother or something else notable. In London, where crime is significantly lower (violent crime per capita is about 50% of what it is in Coventry), stabbings are reported much more frequently in the news. That something is reported can be a sign that it's not ubiquitous.
- jjallen 3y agoWhy is this news? Is every gas car fire reported? Is it news because electric cars are “new” as in ten years old? Or is it that the publisher just knows it will get a bunch of clicks from people that don’t like electric stuff?
- nickthegreek 3y agoThey are more dangerous than gas fires and many people do not understand this yet. While it might be 10 years old, most people have not used nor understand many parts of EV's, like regenerative breaking, the lower center of gravity and the dangers of the batteries.
- jjallen 3y agoThis isn’t an educational article about how to drive an EV. It’s fearmongering about electric vehicles
- mdp2021 3y ago> Why is this news You are in a way right: not strictly "«news»", but information (a piece of information) for awareness in a phase in which the general population (and even a greater set) does not have yet a full picture of relatively new technologies. > ten years old The term 'radioactivity' was coined by Marie Curie in 1898; use of uranium in dentistry was banned in the USA in 1984. Ten years are not much.
- jjallen 3y agoI said that because the critics would respond with the reason the article was written is because they are “new”. Everyone knows that electricity is “older” and that they actually “came out” much longer ago
- TheHappyOddish 3y agoDisassembled cars on fire at Sydney airport are not a common occurance and are absolutely news. The publisher is an Australian nes site for Australians, who don't really find EVs contraversial.