[my_adsense_shortcode_1]
It sounds counterintuitive, however electrical autos that have been flooded with saltwater can catch hearth. 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 officials are looking for answers. This week, U.S. Senator Rick Scott wrote in regards to the challenge to the Department of Transportation and electric-vehicle makers. In a letter addressed to transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Scott wrote:
In addition to the injury attributable to the storm itself, the saltwater flooding in a number of coastal areas has had additional harmful penalties within the aftermath of Hurricane Ian by inflicting the lithium ion batteries in flooded electrical autos (EVs) to spontaneously combust and catch hearth. This rising risk has pressured native hearth departments to divert assets away from hurricane restoration to manage and include these harmful fires. Car fires from electrical autos have confirmed to be extraordinarily harmful and final for a protracted interval, taking in lots of circumstances as much as six hours to burn out. Alarmingly, even after the automobile fires have been extinguished, they will reignite immediately. Sadly, some Florida homes which survived Hurricane Ian, have now been misplaced to fires attributable to flooded EVs.
Scott requested Buttigieg what steering his division has offered—or requested EV makers to supply—to shoppers, in addition to what protocols it’s developed for the carmakers themselves.
Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief monetary officer and state hearth marshal, additionally weighed in on the problem. Last week, he wrote to Jack Danielson, government director National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, asking for “immediate guidance” and noting, “In my experience, Southwest Florida has a significant number of EVs in use, and if those EVs were left behind, exposed to storm surge, and sitting in garages, there is a risk of fires.”
He famous that, based mostly on his analysis, “much of the guidance on submerged vehicles does not address specific risks associated with exposure of EVs to saltwater.” He added that earlier this month, “I joined North Collier Fire Rescue…and saw with my own eyes an EV continuously ignite, and continually reignite, as fireteams doused the vehicle with tens-of-thousands of gallons of water.”
He additionally warned that “EVs may be a ticking time bomb.”
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 those batteries corrode, fires start. That’s a new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before. At least on this kind of scale.”
https://twitter.com/JimmyPatronis/standing/1578050503279316992
In a reply to Patronis, Danielson wrote:
Test outcomes particular to saltwater submersion present that salt bridges can type inside the battery pack and supply a path for brief circuit and self-heating. This can result in hearth ignition. As with different types of battery degradation, the time interval for this transition from self-heating to fireside ignition can differ significantly.
He added:
It could also be useful for individuals who aren’t concerned in quick lifesaving missions to determine flooded autos with lithium-ion batteries and transfer them at the very least 50 toes from any buildings, autos, or combustibles.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
More from Fortune:
American cities are preparing for the worst
Managing Gen Z is like working with people from a ‘different country’
[my_adsense_shortcode_1]
Source link
[my_taboola_shortcode_1]
