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You're right, Tesla doesn't have a 1mm steel sheet beneath the battery - it has a 5mm thick sheet [1]: "Musk explained that damage to the armor plating on the b

You're right, Tesla doesn't have a 1mm steel sheet beneath the battery - it has a 5mm thick sheet [1]: "Musk explained that damage to the armor plating on the bottom of the vehicle was inflicted by contact with debris of a specific shape that resulted in a lever action, puncturing the bottom of the Model S. He noted that 25 tons of force would be required to make the three-inch-deep puncture in the quarter-inch-thick armor plating." [1]http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1319728 http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1319728

tonyplee 13y ago
Does it need 25 tons of force or 3 inch hole to get the battery to catch fire? If the battery container is blend out of shape a bit, would it potentially cause small short in part of the battery somehow? Would that start a fire for the rest of the battery. If this is the case, wouldn't the probability of car catch fire might be higher? An easy test might be take a few batteries and start shoot them with nail gun and see it get shorted/heatup/catch fire? If it does catch fire, put a 5 mm sheet there and see how many nails and how big nails can get it to heat up / catch fire? If any of the above tests can get the battery catch fire, I would be very concern if I am an Tesla owner.
VladRussian2 13y ago
at this thickness it would be something like aluminum, not steel. Good as a frame material, while softness make it not that good for point penetration resistance (it would be somewhere like 1mm steel equivalent, so seems i was wrong above). 5mm Al cover for 10ftx6ft battery would weight 80kg - doesn't look like there is much room for increasing. So it doesn't sound like they did a screwy job - that's good to hear (as i said i'm a fanboy of Tesla and think nothing can stop them but their own hubris - when/if it appears), yet it also may mean that there is no easy, "low hanging fruit", way out.

tonyplee 13y ago

Does it need 25 tons of force or 3 inch hole to get the battery to catch fire? If the battery container is blend out of shape a bit, would it potentially cause small short in part of the battery somehow? Would that start a fire for the rest of the battery. If this is the case, wouldn't the probability of car catch fire might be higher? An easy test might be take a few batteries and start shoot them with nail gun and see it get shorted/heatup/catch fire? If it does catch fire, put a 5 mm sheet there and see how many nails and how big nails can get it to heat up / catch fire? If any of the above tests can get the battery catch fire, I would be very concern if I am an Tesla owner.

VladRussian2 13y ago

at this thickness it would be something like aluminum, not steel. Good as a frame material, while softness make it not that good for point penetration resistance (it would be somewhere like 1mm steel equivalent, so seems i was wrong above). 5mm Al cover for 10ftx6ft battery would weight 80kg - doesn't look like there is much room for increasing. So it doesn't sound like they did a screwy job - that's good to hear (as i said i'm a fanboy of Tesla and think nothing can stop them but their own hubris - when/if it appears), yet it also may mean that there is no easy, "low hanging fruit", way out.