5 ms·

Fun fact: per mile driven, there are about 1/10th to 1/5th as many EV fires, as there are gas car fires. Putting ten gallons of highly toxic and flammable fuel

Fun fact: per mile driven, there are about 1/10th to 1/5th as many EV fires, as there are gas car fires. Putting ten gallons of highly toxic and flammable fuel into a car-shaped object just to commute one person a few dozen miles is quite literally insane from all practical points of view. Electric tech is marginally less crazy, and also a step forward.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
robertlagrant 3y ago
> quite literally insane from all practical points of view Erm. I don't think that's true.
r87 3y ago
I’d expect that, but would have assumed it is due to there being more old gas vehicles on the road. Is that data normalized for age of the cars driven? I assume that my neighbors 30 year old gas guzzler is more likely to catch fire than my 1 year old PHEV for example (or maybe I’m more likely since I have both a lithium battery and a gas tank).
freedude 3y ago
That fun fact may be true, but ask any firefighter that has had to put out a lithium based car fire how fun that fact is. The lithium based fires require 12-15 times the amount of water to extinguish.
- ben_w 3y ago
  Why is water being used for either? One's an electricity-rich fire, the other's an oil-rich fire, water's an unwise response to both for different reasons.
- _ea1k 3y ago
  They can also be put out with a blanket apparently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv2L_QYg4oA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv2L_QYg4oA Although weirdly enough the video demonstration doesn't seem to be of a battery fire. :facepalm
duskwuff 3y ago
> Putting ten gallons of highly toxic and flammable fuel into a car-shaped object just to commute one person a few dozen miles is quite literally insane from all practical points of view. And there's another 10-20 gallons of various oils in the engine and transmission. While they aren't nearly as volatile as the gasoline, they're still quite flammable. Really, it's a wonder these things were ever allowed. :)
- giardini 3y ago
  duskwuff says: >"And there's another 10-20 gallons of various oils in the engine and transmission. While they aren't nearly as volatile as the gasoline, they're still quite flammable"< 1. Off by an order of magnitude: ~4-6 quarts of oil in the motor, about the same for the transmission yielding for a large motor about 2 gallons total. 2. duskwuff says >"they're still quite flammable."< Nonsense. Engine oil is so hard to burn that it is not classified as flammable by OSHA: https://firefighterinsider.com/is-motor-oil-flammable-you-may-be-surprised/ https://firefighterinsider.com/is-motor-oil-flammable-you-ma... Furthermore these oils are encased in heavy metal (the engine block, the transmission block and the differential casing). Starting batteries (the 6- and 12-volt kind) cause more fires than do engine and/or transmission oils. To paraphrase Charlton Heston: "I'll give you my gasoline car when you can pry it from my cold, greasy, dead hands."

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

robertlagrant 3y ago

> quite literally insane from all practical points of view Erm. I don't think that's true.

r87 3y ago

I’d expect that, but would have assumed it is due to there being more old gas vehicles on the road. Is that data normalized for age of the cars driven? I assume that my neighbors 30 year old gas guzzler is more likely to catch fire than my 1 year old PHEV for example (or maybe I’m more likely since I have both a lithium battery and a gas tank).

freedude 3y ago

That fun fact may be true, but ask any firefighter that has had to put out a lithium based car fire how fun that fact is. The lithium based fires require 12-15 times the amount of water to extinguish.

ben_w 3y ago
Why is water being used for either? One's an electricity-rich fire, the other's an oil-rich fire, water's an unwise response to both for different reasons.
_ea1k 3y ago
They can also be put out with a blanket apparently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv2L_QYg4oA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv2L_QYg4oA Although weirdly enough the video demonstration doesn't seem to be of a battery fire. :facepalm

duskwuff 3y ago

> Putting ten gallons of highly toxic and flammable fuel into a car-shaped object just to commute one person a few dozen miles is quite literally insane from all practical points of view. And there's another 10-20 gallons of various oils in the engine and transmission. While they aren't nearly as volatile as the gasoline, they're still quite flammable. Really, it's a wonder these things were ever allowed. :)

giardini 3y ago
duskwuff says: >"And there's another 10-20 gallons of various oils in the engine and transmission. While they aren't nearly as volatile as the gasoline, they're still quite flammable"< 1. Off by an order of magnitude: ~4-6 quarts of oil in the motor, about the same for the transmission yielding for a large motor about 2 gallons total. 2. duskwuff says >"they're still quite flammable."< Nonsense. Engine oil is so hard to burn that it is not classified as flammable by OSHA: https://firefighterinsider.com/is-motor-oil-flammable-you-may-be-surprised/ https://firefighterinsider.com/is-motor-oil-flammable-you-ma... Furthermore these oils are encased in heavy metal (the engine block, the transmission block and the differential casing). Starting batteries (the 6- and 12-volt kind) cause more fires than do engine and/or transmission oils. To paraphrase Charlton Heston: "I'll give you my gasoline car when you can pry it from my cold, greasy, dead hands."