Possible Lightning Fire

[Maquis]

‘I would be curious how age of the vehicle play a part in this. If 90% ICE fires happened in vehicles older than 10 years and BEV batteries become dangerous after 10 years, the relative safety of BEV shown here is misleading since we don’t have that many of old ones out there yet. I am not saying they are not safer. Just saying with limited info you can have stats say any story you want.

For sure….Sweden keeps very close track of vehicle fires. They normalized the data to remove age bias. EVs still fared far better than gasoline or diesel powered cars, but the numbers are not nearly as lopsided as those above.

I’m not sure how much aging plays into increased risk of battery meltdowns, but I’m going to search out the paper that Mickey referred to.

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[Maxx]

For sure….Sweden keeps very close track of vehicle fires. They normalized the data to remove age bias. EVs still fared far better than gasoline or diesel powered cars, but the numbers are not nearly as lopsided as those above.

I’m not sure how much aging plays into increased risk of battery meltdowns, but I’m going to search out the paper that Mickey referred to.

I think part of the freakout with BEV fires is that people may not see a rhyme or reason to it and see it as unpredictable instantaneous combustion that could burn down your house with you in it at any time. All that with your EV just sitting there. That is perfect ingredients for a Hitchcock film. On the other hand an old pinto catching on fire in rear end collision is an old news you expect.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

Im sure we will hear from the owner soon enough.

I wouldn't bank on that. I've met and seen a few older gents in that truck who I'd bet my left nut that they don't paruse these sites every day like we do.... or evet..

 

[Sneakypetie78]

Lest we forget the fiery Pontiac Fiero, or any other car that was taken off the road for their propensity to explode upon impact.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

Not sure, Im confused. Looks like a Lightning but that front grill on the ground looks different?

Maybe it was this Jeep?

 

[Sneakypetie78]

That’s what I thought but then you see the Bed at the end of the video.

I don’t think the Gladiator has the same style grill

I don't see any "bed" and the grill is the same as the picture of that jeep.

 

[F150ROD]

I don't see any "bed" and the grill is the same as the picture of that jeep.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

Maybe it was this Jeep?

Nvm... wrong lugnut pattern

 

[GoodSam]

Here is a shot from street view of Google maps, probably some years ago, but check the truck in that shot:

Even more trucks around the corner:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.917...L4t8ZI6rrg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu

 

[bmwhitetx]

probably some years ago, but check the truck in that shot:

 

[Sealevel]

I wouldn't bank on that. I've met and seen a few older gents in that truck who I'd bet my left nut that they don't paruse these sites every day like we do.... or evet..

As an old dude, I refute your statement - I peruse it at least 5 days a week.

 

[chl]

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/parked-electric-vehicles-destroyed-by-fire-outside-la-habra-home/

Looks to be a Platinum Lightning from the rims.

We can say for sure that the Tesla was plugged in as one can see from the video it still is during the FD putting out the fires.

The Ford charge port is located on the front driver's side of the vehicle.

From the video it appears that there is nothing plugged into the Lightning.

Even if the cord had burned up and the plastic handle melted, wouldn't parts of the handle/plug still be there extending out or some metallic vestige of it?

So if the above is correct, but it WAS the Lightning that started the fire, it happened when the Lightning was not being charged.

Even when not charging, if the battery management system (BMS) doesn't do it's job right keeping the cells balanced, thermal runaway and a fire are possible.

Ford complies with the automotive ISO safety standard regarding these things.

However, it is all dependent on software and processors, functioning properly, which is why redundancy is built in and validation is required.

But sometimes things go wrong despite the best efforts of designers to provide a fail-safe system.

We used to say in the 70's, "to err is human, to really screw up you need a computer."

Time will tell.

 

[chl]

For sure….Sweden keeps very close track of vehicle fires. They normalized the data to remove age bias. EVs still fared far better than gasoline or diesel powered cars, but the numbers are not nearly as lopsided as those above.

I’m not sure how much aging plays into increased risk of battery meltdowns, but I’m going to search out the paper that Mickey referred to.

Most 'old" EVs are still on the road, Nissan Leaf's and Tesla's according to the data.

Nissan warranted their batteries for 8 years/100k miles.

EV Li batteries can theoretically last 20 years depending on charge-discharge cycles, ambient temperatures, and other factors.

Even though they are 90% recyclable, recycling has not become a big deal because EV batteries are lasting longer than predicted.

"...In fact, in response to a question about how the company planned to use old LEAF batteries, Nic Thomas, Nissan’s marketing director for the UK, told Forbes, “Almost all of the batteries we’ve ever made are still in cars, and we’ve been selling electric cars for 12 years. We haven’t got a great big stock of batteries that we can convert into something else.” Other comments from the company include one from 2019 by managing director of Renault-Nissan Energy Services, Francisco Carranza, who estimated that the batteries may last 22 years. .."

https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/how-long-do-ev-batteries-last

Mismanaging EV batteries, abusing them, subjecting them to extreme temperatures can lead to problems. But age itself, in months or years, is not as big a factor as originally thought.

 

[Sneakypetie78]

As an old dude, I refute your statement - I peruse it at least 5 days a week.

A few... not all..

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