EV fires in FL

[Alan47717]

New info out of Florida is that submerging an EV in saltwater can cause them to catch fire. Really? No one knew this could happen?

The authorities are recommending parking EV's on. "higher ground if flooding is imminent". Having lived in SW Florida I can report that "higher ground" pretty much consists of a set of jackstands or the nearest highway overpass.

Another entry in the "You can't make this up" file.

[Gen6cyl]

I heard ev's were helping house's stay lit during-after the storm.

[Texas1ss]

Originally Posted by Alan47717

New info out of Florida is that submerging an EV in saltwater can cause them to catch fire. Really? No one knew this could happen?

The authorities are recommending parking EV's on. "higher ground if flooding is imminent". Having lived in SW Florida I can report that "higher ground" pretty much consists of a set of jackstands or the nearest highway overpass.

Another entry in the "You can't make this up" file.

[CamaroDreams76]

Nothing new there. People were doing this 2 years ago with Hurricane Ian. But yes the sarcasm is strong there. Who knew driving an EV through standing water would be a bad idea. Especially salt water, that's not corrosive at all.

[Alan47717]

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams76

Nothing new there. People were doing this 2 years ago with Hurricane Ian. But yes the sarcasm is strong there. Who knew driving an EV through standing water would be a bad idea. Especially salt water, that's not corrosive at all.

I guess I wasn't paying enough attention two years ago. Begs the question of whether anybody learned anything. How about a registry of EV's, similar to at risk individuals, and a plan to get them moved, say to the upper levels of parking structures, etc.

Not being sarcastic here (this time anyway). An engineering solution probably isn't happening soon and a generic "move your vehicle to higher ground" message is not sufficient.

[cdrptrks]

Here's an article about it from 2022. It seems that there's a chance it could happen after an EV is flooded but a fire is not guaranteed.

https://www.autoblog.com/news/floode...-hurricane-ian

According to the article: "There are fewer EV fires per 100,000 vehicles than there are for gas or hybrid cars."

[OB0001]

Water will not put out an EV fire, in fact it will make it worse.

[90503]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

Here's an article about it from 2022. It seems that there's a chance it could happen after an EV is flooded but a fire is not guaranteed.

https://www.autoblog.com/news/floode...-hurricane-ian

According to the article: "There are fewer EV fires per 100,000 vehicles than there are for gas or hybrid cars."

Good article. Car crashes cause most gas car fires. Maintenance could prevent a lot of car fires not caused by an accident.

EVs will catch up though in the numbers. And not all gas car fires are as intense of a total loss like EV fires, which don't tend to stay small or can be extinguished in a timely manner to limit damage.

As EV numbers increase (and age) so will the percentage per 100k cars that catch fire, and the intensity and likelihood of a total loss and surrounding exposures will increase as well.

[Junction65]

For those that care to read it, here is a much better data source for what salt water can do to EVs:

A Teardown Study of Flood Damaged Electric
Vehicles EV Battery Safety

[Capricio]

Originally Posted by Junction65

For those that care to read it, here is a much better data source for what salt water can do to EVs:

A Teardown Study of Flood Damaged Electric
Vehicles EV Battery Safety

Stranded energy at an unknown state due to either
collision or natural disaster (e.g., hurricane) could pose
major safety concerns to consumers, emergency
responders, recovery personnel, etc.

[GreenZLE]

When you see an EV on fire, RUN! That crap they spew is pretty toxic, way more than a normal car.