Just please be careful about fire hazards. No joke. Our town had a Tesla go on fire and water wouldnt put it out. Had to get an excavator to dig a hole then a bulldozer to push it in. They buried it to put it out.
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
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While its true that water doesn't put out lithium fires (it makes it worse actually), there are extinguishers that do put out lithium fires. Most EV fires would burn out in 3 to 5 hours. Are you saying for your town it was quicker to find an excavator, transport it to the site of the fire with a skilled operator, dig a hole, place the burning EV in the hole and cover it up?
The end result is the car was buried. Who made the call and what methods are more efficient i couldnt say. But yeah they did smother the fire by burying it.
While you're absolutely correct, lithium cells are no joke, they seem to know what they're doing and even Tesla themselves have very similar (with bigger capacity) product called PowerWall. Even if Ukrainians shove their tech into black tool box instead of shiny white plastic casing the internals are more or less the same and, when made properly, it's pretty safe and as the situation in Ukraine gets more and more difficult that can make a big difference on everyday life.
5kWh is not a lot, but it's well enough to keep the (led) lights on and even run a small refridgerator for half a day. As the article states, that's not enough for heating and when the winter comes it'll be a tough situation to manage for a lot of people. In comparison, our ~170m² house consumes easily 4-6kW during winter hours even with heat pump. A small apartment with heat pump might mange with 1kW for heating, but it's still a lot to ask from a small(ish) battery like that and I don't know what kind of infrastructure in Ukraine is generally around.
You are right for fires involving electronics, cables and alike. However, the German Accident Insurance Institution (DGUV) actually recommends water for extinguishing burning lithium ion batteries and forbids the use of anything other (CO2, anti metal fire powder, ABC powder, BC powder,... )
If an EV is burning the fire fighters extingush the fire with water and as soon as the EV is cooled enough to allow some handling it is put into a container filled with water for a quite long time.
Unless I'm reading it wrong, that pertains to small LI batteries for household objects, like laptops and wireless screwdrivers, ie. stuff that can plausibly fit into a basin full of water. not sure it would apply to a whole car.
wtf? why don't they allow this? after all it is a matter of life and death!
Perhaps, as the medium shall fulfil either of both tasks, keeping oxygen out and cooling, the others are not effective enough in cooling.
"Forbids" here is more like "are not to be used", as against recommendations, rather than illegal.
we were this close to harnessing infinite energy from the perpetually burning tesla but you went and buried it
Basic science knowledge why water is not-so-good idea on lithium-fires:
- Lithium oxidizes the air alone and can self-ignite.
- It is one of the few metals that can react with Nitrogen (N2) and CO2 in the air. So it will continue to react even if all oxygen is depleted from the fire.
- Water + Lithium => Hydrogen => kaboom.
This means you have a "two-legged fire triangle" situation. The only way to stop the fire is to cool it down with something that it doesn't react with (sand), since you can't entirely remove the surrounding air. So the best option is really to just bury the thing in a sand pile.
The fact there is a ton of energy charged in a battery pack basically ensures all of the lithium will react if the battery shorts. If you ever see one puffing or rapidly heating up, you have maybe 5 seconds left to yeet the battery or the scene.
You know, when litteral bombs fall from the sky, litium fire is not such a big deal.
Saftey is saftey. From bombs or fire.