It sounds counterintuitive, however electrical autos which were flooded with saltwater can catch fireplace. That’s confirmed to be an issue in Florida within the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which flooded elements of the state final month.
Now, Florida officers are searching for solutions. This week, U.S. Senator Rick Scott wrote concerning the situation to the Division of Transportation and electric-vehicle makers. In a letter addressed to transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Scott wrote:
Along with the injury brought on by the storm itself, the saltwater flooding in a number of coastal areas has had additional damaging penalties within the aftermath of Hurricane Ian by inflicting the lithium ion batteries in flooded electrical autos (EVs) to spontaneously combust and catch fireplace. This rising menace has compelled native fireplace departments to divert sources away from hurricane restoration to manage and comprise these harmful fires. Automotive fires from electrical autos have confirmed to be extraordinarily harmful and final for a chronic interval, taking in lots of circumstances as much as six hours to burn out. Alarmingly, even after the automotive fires have been extinguished, they will reignite immediately. Sadly, some Florida houses which survived Hurricane Ian, have now been misplaced to fires brought on by flooded EVs.
Scott requested Buttigieg what steerage his division has supplied—or requested EV makers to offer—to shoppers, in addition to what protocols it’s developed for the carmakers themselves.
Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief monetary officer and state fireplace marshal, additionally weighed in on the problem. Final week, he wrote to Jack Danielson, government director Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration, asking for “instant steerage” and noting, “In my expertise, Southwest Florida has a major variety of EVs in use, and if these EVs had been left behind, uncovered to storm surge, and sitting in garages, there’s a danger of fires.”
He famous that, primarily based on his analysis, “a lot of the steerage on submerged autos doesn’t deal with particular dangers related to publicity of EVs to saltwater.” He added that earlier this month, “I joined North Collier Hearth Rescue…and noticed with my very own eyes an EV repeatedly ignite, and frequently reignite, as fireteams doused the car with tens-of-thousands of gallons of water.”
On Twitter, Patronis shared a video of firefighters attempting extinguish a burning Tesla. He wrote within the tweet, “There’s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As these batteries corrode, fires begin. That’s a brand new problem that our firefighters haven’t confronted earlier than. No less than on this type of scale.”
There’s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As these batteries corrode, fires begin. That’s a brand new problem that our firefighters haven’t confronted earlier than. No less than on this type of scale. #HurricaneIan pic.twitter.com/WsErgA6evO
— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) October 6, 2022
In a reply to Patronis, Danielson wrote:
Check outcomes particular to saltwater submersion present that salt bridges can type throughout the battery pack and supply a path for brief circuit and self-heating. This could result in fireplace ignition. As with different types of battery degradation, the time interval for this transition from self-heating to fireplace ignition can fluctuate enormously.
He added:
It could be useful for individuals who will not be concerned in instant lifesaving missions to determine flooded autos with lithium-ion batteries and transfer them not less than 50 ft from any constructions, autos, or combustibles.
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Originally published at Gold Coast News HQ
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