Electrical car fires have made headlines for years now, however within the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the Class 4 hurricane that triggered document devastation from wind, rain, and storm surge, EVs are spontaneously combusting and saltwater is a most important wrongdoer. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV house owners to get their autos to larger floor earlier than Helene hit to stop submersion and decrease the chance of fires. Tesla advises house owners to keep away from letting its autos develop into submerged, but when it occurs to tow the car at the least 50-feet away from something flamable till it may be inspected by a mechanic.
Saltwater poses an particularly critical danger to electrical car batteries as a result of salt conducts electrical energy. The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) has been researching this phenomenon since EVs began catching hearth following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, however quantifying the problem has confirmed difficult. Freshwater flooding in California hasn’t triggered the identical frequency of EV fires that Florida has seen within the wake of a number of hurricanes over the previous decade, and researchers consider saltwater is responsible. Based on the Related Press:
Electrical autos with lithium ion batteries can catch hearth if the batteries brief circuit and begin to warmth up. Tom Barth with the Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned that if the warmth begins to unfold between totally different cells within the battery again it could actually trigger a series response referred to as thermal runaway.
“If the saltwater is ready to bridge the hole between the optimistic and unfavorable terminals of battery, then it could actually trigger a brief circuit,” mentioned Barth, who’s chief of the particular investigations department of the NTSB’s workplace of freeway security.
Carmakers do design their batteries to attempt to stop this downside. There are sometimes separations or insulation boundaries between totally different cells within the battery pack, and producers take steps to maintain moisture out. However they do have to incorporate methods for the batteries to vent warmth.
“The place it begins to be an issue is when you’ve got the batteries submerged in standing water. That’s the place it begins to beat the moisture seals within the battery,” Barth mentioned.
The injury brought on by submerging an EV in saltwater doesn’t disappear as soon as the water recedes. Generally EVs which have been submerged in saltwater can catch hearth lengthy after the water evaporates because the conductive salt remains to be current. Following Hurricane Ian, it’s estimated that 5,000 EVs have been compromised by water and 36 of them caught hearth. Not each EV that’s submerged will catch hearth, nevertheless it’s necessary to heed warnings since EV fires are so tough to extinguish. Florida at the moment faces elevated danger of those fires as a consequence of Hurricane Helene’s storm surge that triggered ocean water to flood some areas as deep as 20 toes. In case your EV has been compromised by flooding of any kind, park your car away from something flamable till it may be inspected by an expert.
