Tesla Model S fire reignites 6 hours after car fire deemed out

aja8888

aja8888

Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
18,745
Location
Conroe, Texas
After a Model S had a low tire pressure warning, the car caught on fire. After crews extinguished the fire and a Tesla rep said it was safe to move it, the car was moved and reignited.


Crews on the scene waited six hours for the battery to cool, but even then, after transporting it 10 minutes away, the car reignited late Tuesday night.

“If this had been in the house, and we were on vacation, and this thing caught fire in the garage, the whole house could go under,” he said.
Click to expand...

Video here in article:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/f...blaze-were-gonna-be-here-all-night-2018-12-19
 
Last edited:
Battery fires in coal mines are common, but are handled as a complete emergency. We smothered them with rock dust and removed them from the mine immediately, usually by flatcar. Battery powered scoops, mantrips and locomotives are all used underground in all different mines, but are very inefficient.
 
Business Insider reports that 17 cars catch fire in the United States...every hour. This would be cars that are fueled with gasoline, as if cars catching fire with gasoline is a surprise.

It doesn't get put in the news, because its so commonplace.

150,000 annually.

I decided not to drive around a car with gasoline in it, and bought 2 EV's.
 
Last edited:
We always hear about the IPhone that caught fire as well, but so far people still haven’t stopped buying them.
 
We know the mechanisms for normal ICE cars to catch on fire. An EV has a lot of built-in smart to shut down the battery system when something goes wrong. Although this is not a frequent occurrence, it is definitely interesting to learn the failure mode that caused this fire.
 
Probably ran over something in the road that punctured a tire and the battery tray. The electronics can only do so much to prevent a fire if you damage the fuel source.

I mean the same thing could happen in a car if you ran over something that ruptured the gasoline tank. It just wouldn't even make the news in podunkville, Alabama.
 
The main point that is important is that owners, fire departments and repair shops need to be aware of how a fire acts in any electric car with a lithium battery.
 
aja8888 said:
The main point that is important is that owners, fire departments and repair shops need to be aware of how a fire acts in any electric car with a lithium battery.
Click to expand...

The main point is if there is 17 ICE car fires an hour, on average, thats 408 a day, in the US.

Thats every day.

One Tesla catches fire and look what you're posting.
 
Mr. Tightwad said:
The main point is if there is 17 ICE car fires an hour, on average, thats 408 a day, in the US.

Thats every day.

One Tesla catches fire and look what you're posting.
Click to expand...


Just from my viewpoint... those 17 ICE fires an hour are put out and stay out.... if one caught on fire again many hours later I would think it would make some news...


Plus, how many ICE cars per 100,000 catch fire compared to Tesla per 100,000... and also remember that a good number of those fires are for old cars.. Tesla does not have any (or few) old cars...


BTW,, I have a friend who was parked at Chili's and looked out the window... the car next to his car was up in a big fire... his car was a month or two old!!! And don't you know.. that car on fire was old and the person did not have any insurance...
 
Texas Proud said:
Just from my viewpoint... those 17 ICE fires an hour are put out and stay out.... if one caught on fire again many hours later I would think it would make some news...


Plus, how many ICE cars per 100,000 catch fire compared to Tesla per 100,000... and also remember that a good number of those fires are for old cars.. Tesla does not have any (or few) old cars...
Click to expand...


I don't remember the number, but several years ago Tesla did a comparison. Not surprisingly hauling around 10-20 gallons of highly explosive material caused ICE cars to have many times the number of fires and as Tesla's have had.
 
Mr. Tightwad said:
The main point is if there is 17 ICE car fires an hour, on average, thats 408 a day, in the US.

Thats every day.

One Tesla catches fire and look what you're posting.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree here. we have been hauling around gasoline for 100 years and everyone knows the risk of a fire in that kind if vehicle. I know several S owners and now a Model 3 owner locally and I'll bet 1/2 do not understand what a lithium battery is, let alone what can happen if a fire starts.

I have no intention of degrading EV's and actually like what I see, but there is a learning curve to understand the risk of a fire.

Let's face it, lithium batteries present a danger at times and even in small packages have been shown to auto ignite. MY DW has one big lithium battery in her portable oxygen generator and you ought to see the humps we have to get by just to have her take a flight on a commercial airline.
 
I was trying to do a little research on this and got very little...


Mostly just people posting here and there... but some stats do show that ICE fires per vehicle is much higher than EV...


However, one guy said that the problem is that most fires for ICE are older, less maintained or damaged cars... that you would have to compare new Teslas to new vehicles... he compared Tesla S to some Cadillac since it was introduced around the same time as the S... the Cadillac has zero fires... Tesla has had a number... not a big number... like 12 or 13....


https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/11/a-list-of-tesla-car-fires-since-2013/


Remember... there are still Pintos and Chevy trucks on the road... OH, and I just remembered that Ford had a recall for Trucks or SUVs for fires caused by faulty wiring... they would just burst into flames where ever they were...
 
aja8888 said:
I have no intention of degrading EV's and actually like what I see, but there is a learning curve to understand the risk of a fire.

Let's face it, lithium batteries present a danger at times and even in small packages have been shown to auto ignite. MY DW has one big lithium battery in her portable oxygen generator and you ought to see the humps we have to get by just to have her take a flight on a commercial airline.
Click to expand...
How do you suppose it'd go if she tried carrying a can of gasoline on with her?
 
Another thing to understand a lithium battery fire is NOT easy to extinguish . It takes many gallons of water and foam . So what do you do if you are in Who cares Ark and you have a fire and the nearest foam is 30 minutes away ?


Not trying to degrade EV's but they need to be corrected . We do not need a bunch of Pinto's
 
There are several different compositions of Lithium cells. The one that is the safest is LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate or LFP). It is not as widely used, because its energy density is not as high as that of other types, such as lithium nickel cobalt aluminum (NCA) used in Tesla cars.

I believe LFP batteries were the first lithium type approved for aviation use. The video below shows the destruction of a LFP battery made by CALB. Note that CALB stands for China Aviation Lithium Battery.

This is a destruction of a fairly large LiFePO4 cell of 100Ah. People have shorted LFP batteries, overcharged them, drove nails through them, thrown them on fire. You can see a lot on Youtube.


This is a Tesla battery pack in spontaneous combustion when installed in an EV conversion.

Now, the battery could have been abused. Hence, lithium batteries always come with protective circuits to keep them from getting overcharged, overdischarged, being charged in cold temperatures, etc... But the circuits may fail.

 
Last edited:
Here's a cell from a LEAF battery getting tortured, and it still worked! It is said to be of the lithium manganese cobalt type (NMC).

 
Last edited:
clifp said:
I don't remember the number, but several years ago Tesla did a comparison. Not surprisingly hauling around 10-20 gallons of highly explosive material caused ICE cars to have many times the number of fires and as Tesla's have had.
Click to expand...

Imagine in today's political and social environment if the gasoline infrastructure we already have did not exist... Would regulations allow us to build it?

Dear Powers-that-be, I want to make cars fueled by highly flammable chemical that is also a known powerful carcinogen (benzene). Big tanker trucks on the public roads will haul around and transfer thousands of gallons and it will be stored in underground tanks. People will pump it into their cars by themselves (with no formal training and no license). It is poisoness and dangerous if it is mishandled. If there is a crash it might leak and spill into the environment causing fire and/or people to be exposed to this carcinogen. Just sign here giving me permission to do so.
Click to expand...

Sure. No problem. :confused:
 
Last edited:
aja8888 said:
I have to disagree here. we have been hauling around gasoline for 100 years and everyone knows the risk of a fire in that kind if vehicle. I know several S owners and now a Model 3 owner locally and I'll bet 1/2 do not understand what a lithium battery is, let alone what can happen if a fire starts.

I have no intention of degrading EV's and actually like what I see, but there is a learning curve to understand the risk of a fire.

Let's face it, lithium batteries present a danger at times and even in small packages have been shown to auto ignite. MY DW has one big lithium battery in her portable oxygen generator and you ought to see the humps we have to get by just to have her take a flight on a commercial airline.
Click to expand...

It's clear with the Teslas that have caught on fire drivers have had far more time to get to safety...with a gasoline/diesel-fueled vehicle fire you're fortunate if you've got the time to get to the side of the road & out of the vehicle before being burned.
 
ncbill said:
It's clear with the Teslas that have caught on fire drivers have had far more time to get to safety...with a gasoline/diesel-fueled vehicle fire you're fortunate if you've got the time to get to the side of the road & out of the vehicle before being burned.
Click to expand...


And were did you get this info? Of the few fires that I have seen the occupants were able to get out easily... and the one that burned next to my friends car the guy was already in the restaurant before people saw the flames...
 
One bad thing about ICE: They have flammable liquid and electricity too. I remember working on a fancy RV once. Beautiful fiberglass body and interior finishes but mechanicals were very crappy. They ran the ground line for the aux battery to the closest metal object which happened to be a fuel line.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Nakia Creek Fire Evacuation
2
Replies
30
Views
1K
SecretlyFI
S
J
48 with 12+ years to go
Replies
20
Views
3K
youbet
youbet
W
50+ In Wyoming, Poised to FIRE, But Health Considerations
2
Replies
40
Views
7K
WyomingLife
W
R
Something ran out from behind the house...
Replies
15
Views
2K
Sittingduck
Sittingduck
J
First ever review
Replies
10
Views
3K
CoolRich59
C

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom