3 ms·

I think people have exaggerated feelings of insecurity about planes versus cars. Maybe it's because heavier-than-air flight just doesn't jive mentally, or maybe

I think people have exaggerated feelings of insecurity about planes versus cars. Maybe it's because heavier-than-air flight just doesn't jive mentally, or maybe it's because you have very little personal control when flying. Either way, you carry these batteries on your person, in your coat pocket, in a bag, leave them in your study downstairs, hell, drive around in a big box made of them. Fisker Karmas were in the nasty habit of bursting into flames, but that was viewed as a one-off design flaw, not a crushing blow to 'batteries in cars' as a concept. I think the collective anxiety we feel towards planes, as a culture, shapes our views of these incidents too much. If your car was on fire on the highway you may not have handled it as well as the pilot in this scenario.

LnxPrgr3 14y ago
Even old-fashioned gasoline cars carry with them a tank of incredibly flammable fuel, a battery that can dump hundreds of amps into a short circuit (and that vents explosive gas in normal operation), and a much higher risk of colliding with other things on the ground. IIRC car crashes kill on the order of 30,000 people a year in the US. That said, I have had my engine catch fire while driving down the Interstate. It took me a few seconds to pull over and get out of the car. The best pilot ever isn't about to land a 787 from cruising altitude anywhere near as fast. I can only hope the design keeps the battery fire from endangering life or taking out anything else important in the meantime. But my understanding is the rate of spectacular li-ion battery failures is phenomenally low. Incidents happen, but the vast majority of batteries behave themselves. From the early reports I've heard, the Boeing situation sounds like one of abuse. But like I said with the Fisker situation, we won't really know anything about Boeing's situation until the investigations are complete. Either way, I'll drop my phone in my pocket today with confidence, right before doing something else far more likely to hurt me: driving to work.

LnxPrgr3 14y ago

Even old-fashioned gasoline cars carry with them a tank of incredibly flammable fuel, a battery that can dump hundreds of amps into a short circuit (and that vents explosive gas in normal operation), and a much higher risk of colliding with other things on the ground. IIRC car crashes kill on the order of 30,000 people a year in the US. That said, I have had my engine catch fire while driving down the Interstate. It took me a few seconds to pull over and get out of the car. The best pilot ever isn't about to land a 787 from cruising altitude anywhere near as fast. I can only hope the design keeps the battery fire from endangering life or taking out anything else important in the meantime. But my understanding is the rate of spectacular li-ion battery failures is phenomenally low. Incidents happen, but the vast majority of batteries behave themselves. From the early reports I've heard, the Boeing situation sounds like one of abuse. But like I said with the Fisker situation, we won't really know anything about Boeing's situation until the investigations are complete. Either way, I'll drop my phone in my pocket today with confidence, right before doing something else far more likely to hurt me: driving to work.