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Thread ID: 149671	2021-03-23 19:32:00	Electric car gutted by fire	piroska (17583)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1475726	2021-03-24 07:02:00	Tesla claims their cars are about 10 times less likely to catch fire than a petrol car, I suspect those numbers are BS as well but I'm not seeing much definitive proof either way. Yeah, I've seen that claim. I'm still a little hessitant to take it as a solid statistic, given the bulk of Teslas fleet are only a few years old, whereas most of the petrol cars going up in flames have probably had a decade or more of use and abuse before getting into this state. It's claimed the NCA and NCO (Nickel, cobalt, aluinium/oxide) versions of Lithium batteries are more volatile. They give more grunt and hold more energy for their weight and volume, but degrade more quickly, and can develop dendrites and (particularly if the undercarriage has suffered a hard strike) can go up in flames very quickly. There may be a swing ot the 'inferior' LFP (Lithium Iron Phospate) chemistries, which hold less energy, give less grunt, weigh more, but cost a lot less, have negligible degradation, and are very tolerant to charge/discharge abuse, making them very unlikely to catch fire... but up to now it means trading range and brute power for added weight. THere's rumours Tesla has a newer tweak to LFP batteries that gives better power for weight, but it's still a case of wait/weight and see. Anyone wanting to nerd out on battery tech should check out The Limiting Factor channel on Youtube. The host is a guy working for IRD here in NZ!	Paul.Cov (425)
1475727	2021-03-24 20:11:00	much less likely based on what? do you have some information I haven't seen? There has been a spate of electric cars exploding all over the country as they get more common I assume? wow, pull it back a notch mate, its a light hearted discussion not an anger filled shouting match We cant base this on studies from 5 years ago We cant base this on the US stats, or on Tesla's stats. Most of the non US world will be driving other brands than Telsa's Its well know lithium batt packs can catch fire if punctured, damaged, old , overcharged.. the list goes on. How many petrol cars will reignite several times after being put out, for up to 5 days ? "At the end of September, BMW initiated a recall in the United States of 10 different BMW and Mini plug-in hybrid models because of a risk of fire caused by debris that may have gotten into battery cells during manufacturing. Then, in early October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into reports of apparently spontaneous battery fires in Chevrolet Bolt EVs. GM says it is cooperating with the investigation. A few days later, Hyundai announced that it was recalling 6,700 Kona Electric SUVs in the United States, among about 75,000 of that model to be recalled worldwide, after it had received numerous reports of vehicles catching fire while parked." "Tesla faced this last year after two highly publicized battery fires, which spurred it to update its vehicle software. Years earlier, after a car fire caused by battery damage from road debris, Tesla added plates underneath its cars to better protect the batteries." "Fires become more likely as vehicles age, noted Marty Ahrens, a research manager at NFPA, and most electric cars on the road today are still very new."	1101 (13337)
1475728	2021-03-24 21:34:00	Just talking about this yesterday with my Older Brother who is retired Mechanic. He said the training, there's some extensive you have to go through to when working with these electric cars, touch the wrong thing and you can fry yourself. When talking about them going on fire, as he said, the fire Brigade cant do much with them, more or less stand back let them burn out, keep the surrounding area safe and hope someone's got some marshmallows handy to roast them :D	wainuitech (129)
1475729	2021-03-24 22:20:00	I had a fire in my 1959 Morris Oxford Series III and it didnt make PC World forum. My flatmate threw a cig out the window and it must have flown back in the passengers window. We stopped at the Okaramio pub after work as always and later on someone said your car is smoking like you believe anyone in a pub saying that!. But it was, the rear seat was smoldering had to throw a jug of piss on it. Morris Oxford versus jug of piss? Some people would have said that that was a tough call.	decibel (11645)
1475730	2021-03-24 22:51:00	I had a fire in my 1959 Morris Oxford Series III . Husband had a 63...then a 63 Cambridge. I liked driving it.....got hit in rear by a bus once, no damage....smacked into Valiant that pulled out in front of me, bananaed the Valiant, spun it round and round. Damage to Cambridge, a 20c piece size dent in over rider. But he was always fixing it, every 6 months a wheel bearing or something. When we finally sold it it had had every single part replaced except the diff. He did the panels and interior once too, it was mint for a while after that...	piroska (17583)
1475731	2021-03-25 06:51:00	wow, pull it back a notch mate, its a light hearted discussion not an anger filled shouting match I'm not angry, and I wasn't shouting. A little sarcastic maybe but that's just me. Just questioning if you had a reason to believe battery fires are more likely to occur that petrol fires or were just expressing an opinion. I also said I was not arguing about which was worse, just which was more likely. I'm sure lithium battery fires are potentially a lot worse when they happen than a normal petrol fire, not suggesting otherwise. I'd agree we shouldn't take tesla's own claims at face value, and that the cars haven't been around long enough for us to know how bad the problem might get when they are older. That however means we don't know, it's not evidence for one being more or less likely than the other. Tesla compare fires per distance travelled with it's stats. If you removed petrol cars that are older than the electric cars used for the comparison it would seem like a pretty fair comparison, not sure if anyone has done that though.	dugimodo (138)
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