
Tesla Model S caught fire while charging (Belgium) - jhatax
https://electrek.co/2019/06/01/tesla-fire-supercharger/
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Pulletwee12549
I get that statistically, Teslas are much less likely than ICE cars to catch
fire, the media attention to EV fires is disproportionate, etc.

I think if Tesla could give a reason for the fires, rather than simply
pointing out how rare they are, these stories would be much less compelling.
It's the sense of the unknown which makes people paranoid. I suspect it has to
do with Model S battery chemistry and they don't want to make the S even less
competitive against the 3 than it already is.

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pieterk
It's also that if a Lithium battery catches fire, it's not going to be
stoppable by a common extinguisher. The only thing you can really do is put a
shield around the fire, or drop a tungsten dome around it and pray it doesn't
fly off.

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fyfy18
As the article says, the fire department used a new approach which was to
submerge the car in a pool of water and leave it over night. I'm surprised
this didn't cause more issues (I guess the battery wasn't actually damaged or
on fire before hand), but it's good to know it works. Still, it needs a lot
more equipment than a regular car fire.

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dredalious
Actually, the Belgian fire dept has done that multiple times already. At least
once in the Antwerp harbor with a Volkswagen. They where being followed by a
tv crew at the time, so it’s well known to the public and we got some
explanation as to the reasoning of why they’re doing it like this. (“Helden
van hier” S04E08)

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martin_a
Episode on Youtube:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWo8Sb0IE4U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWo8Sb0IE4U)

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Havoc
Why on earth did they put a car full of lithium ion batteries in water? Surely
that's just risking a rather spectacular reaction

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brennebeck
A quick google seems to show that’s fairly standard[0]:

> A small Li-ion fire can be handled like any other combustible fire. For best
> result use a foam extinguisher, CO2, ABC dry chemical, powdered graphite,
> copper powder or soda (sodium carbonate). If the fire occurs in an airplane
> cabin, the FAA instructs flight attendants to use water or soda pop. Water-
> based products are most readily available and are appropriate since Li-ion
> contains very little lithium metal that reacts with water. Water also cools
> the adjacent area and prevents the fire from spreading. Research
> laboratories and factories also use water to extinguish Li-ion battery
> fires.

[0]:
[https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/safety_concerns_...](https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/safety_concerns_with_li_ion)

~~~
Gwypaas
Not really true, you have a problem of toxic gases being released.[1] For my
latest safety training in the maritime industry the handling of lithium
battery fires was essentially put yourself upwind and let it burn it self out
to prevent any exposure.

The conclusion from the paper is important:

"Using water mist resulted in a temporarily increased production rate of HF
but the application of water mist had no significant effect on the total
amount of released HF."

Though presumably, submerging the car would help by solving the fumes in the
water creating hydroflouric acid instead.

[1]:
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09784-z](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09784-z)

~~~
marcinzm
The study makes a note that it's testing HF production and not testing putting
out a fire. "The intention in this study was however not to extinguish the
fire completely."

If you have the luxury of isolating the burning component and a lot of open
space and a consistent wind direction you can let it burn. Few places outside
of ships and desolate areas have that. Airplanes definitely don't. Neither do
locations inside of cities. Cars also have many lithium cells so isolating the
burning one is impossible and you probably want to avoid all of them catching
on fire.

Letting a car fire burn on it's own means you now have clouds of HF and you
need to evacuate massive area for a long time. Or you drop it in water and
avoid all that.

