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Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

arstechnica.co.uk

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Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#21

Post by ethbro »

yardie wrote: post #14
aedron wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

> I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. I just passed a car completely engulfed in flames on I-95, yesterday. I pass one every few weeks. It seems to happen more often in summer. Except for local traffic updates it's so common national news doesn't bother to pick it up unless there is a fatality.

... Say what you want about the tenets of automotive electrification, but moving electricity around a vehicle seems a lot safer than piping a combustible fluid.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#22

Post by ddmf »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

I was in a car a few years ago that spontaneously erupted into flames at 70mph - well, it had been at 70mph - we were a few hundred yards on a motorway on a hot summer day when the car started slowing down, we pulled over to the hard shoulder and noticed the flames!

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#23

Post by dandrews »

brador wrote: post #16

Why not separate the driver compartment from the battery packs using a fireproof wall? Or surround the batteries in a fireproof "box" with a vent? Or add a gas based fire damping system like data centres use? Battery bursting into flames, destroying the whole car and putting the driver and passengers at risk just seems so archaic.

One misfeature of most "lithium ion" cells is that their cathodes produce oxygen under high temperatures. One very good reason for Segway (e.g.) to use lithium-iron-phosphate cells - they're far less likely to burn, though their power density suffers over conventional cells.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#25

Post by jdietrich »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

According to the NFPA, there are on average 152,000 car fires per year resulting in 209 fatalities. That represents 10% of all fires in the United States.

Car fires aren't newsworthy, because they happen all the time. A car's engine bay is full of scalding hot parts and highly flammable liquid. All it takes for a car to turn into a fireball is a small fuel leak. A small electrical fire can quickly become catastrophic.

http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/property-type-...

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#26

Post by mikestew »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

Happens so often it doesn't often make the news. Probably happened last night, in your town. Have an old fuel injected VW with old fuel lines? It'll happen to you if you don't replace those lines before they burst and squirt 45psi of gasoline at the hot engine.

Lots of reasons for an ICE car to catch fire.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#27

Post by thehoff »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

Another anecdote, many years ago we had a friend who bought a Ford Focus as her first car out of college. While parked at a traffic light the car started fire (this was straight from the dealer on her way home). She got out and called the dealer from across the street watching it go up in flames. She got a new Focus with more bells and whistles than her original.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#28

Post by LeifCarrotson »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

I pulled in behind someone at a gas station to fuel up as they pulled up to the building to get something inside. They had been inside for seconds when thick black smoke started billowing from the engine compartment. In minutes all the plastic and oil that used to be in the car was suspended in the blackest cloud of smoke I have ever seen, stretching into the sky.

I hate to think what would have happened if it started while they were fueling with three other cars tightly bunched around it. But the most poignant moment in the event was standing outside as the station attendant calmly called the fire department:

"Hi, I am at the Shell station on Walker. We have a car on fire here again."

Again, like it's a regular occurrence.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#29

Post by LeifCarrotson »

holtalanm wrote: post #18
ClayM wrote: post #3

Credit to the Tesla guys for setting up the monitoring so well that it kept everybody alive.

Was gonna say that. Gas burners don't give any such warning. When I was a kid, I remember seeing my neighbors truck going up in flames in mere SECONDS. They got in the truck, turned the key, and it didn't start. They felt the dashboard and it was hot. As soon as they got out, the whole truck went up in flames. This was an older truck, but still, can't think of any vehicles nowadays besides a high-tech car giving a wa…

I wonder if they could add sensors for fire detection to an ICE vehicle, or if the fact that it literally contains thousands of fires a second, belches smoke out the exhaust pipe, and has internal components at hundreds of degrees makes this impossible?

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#30

Post by jmcdiesel »

helthanatos wrote: post #24

Tesla's energy department may want to investigate ways to make their batteries less destructive.

No they don't... cares combust on a fairly regular (albiet low probability) basis... and Tesla actually has sensors and warnings unlike most cars...
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