Anything to be worried about

[Owner4523]

Today I was adding some gas to our lawnmower in the garage and a small bit of gasoline spilled on the floor (which I can smell in my garage.) this was hours ago and the garage floor is dry, but I'm up now nervous that some how my car charging tonight could some how catch fire (the gas would be under where my car was parked.) It's 10:30 pm where I'm from and I'm wondering if I should go buy some kitty litter and put it on my garage floor to absorb any gas in the ground, park my car not in the garage tonight (and this not charging) or if I'm just overthinking...any advice, so I can hopefully sleep in piece.

(I somehow think a fire is going to start on the ground below my car while I'm sleeping, and my car battery will explode on me.)

 

[jjrandorin]

Today I was adding some gas to our lawnmower in the garage and a small bit of gasoline spilled on the floor (which I can smell in my garage.) this was hours ago and the garage floor is dry, but I'm up now nervous that some how my car charging tonight could some how catch fire (the gas would be under where my car was parked.) It's 10:30 pm where I'm from and I'm wondering if I should go buy some kitty litter and put it on my garage floor to absorb any gas in the ground, park my car not in the garage tonight (and this not charging) or if I'm just overthinking...any advice, so I can hopefully sleep in piece.

(I somehow think a fire is going to start on the ground below my car while I'm sleeping, and my car battery will explode on me.)

Its no more likely to do that than if you parked a regular combustion engine car in there, so no there isnt anything to worry about as far as your car battery.

 

[E90alex]

If it’s not wet it’s evaporated already.

 

[AMPd]

Is this supposed to be a joke?

If the floor is dry then all of the gas has evaporated.

Ive never heard of any batteries “exploding”, they can catch fire but I’m not sure they can explode.

 

[Owner4523]

It's no more likely to do that than if you parked a regular combustion engine car in there, so no there isnt anything to worry about as far as your car battery.y previous car didn't

Its no more likely to do that than if you parked a regular combustion engine car in there, so no there isnt anything to worry about as far as your car battery.

My previous car didn't have an electric cord plugged into it...

 

[Owner4523]

Is this supposed to be a joke?

If the floor is dry then all of the gas has evaporated.

Ive never heard of any batteries “exploding”, they can catch fire but I’m not sure they can explode.

I believe fumes are flammable

 

[AMPd]

My previous car didn't have an electric cord plugged into it...

So what? The gasoline is gone, what exactly are you worried about?

 

[Owner4523]

So what? The gasoline is gone, what exactly are you worried about?

Fumes being flammable and some sort of spark happening when my car starts to charge in the middle of the night

 

[AMPd]

I believe fumes are flammable

Unless your garage is air tight, the fumes have long dispersed.

But if you’re still worried. Go open your garage door for a few minutes. That would also help get rid of the smell

 

[Owner4523]

Unless your garage is air tight, the fumes have long dispersed.

But if you’re still worried. Go open your garage door for a few minutes. That would also help get rid of the smell

Is it possible to still smell gas but not have any flammable fumes?

 

[AMPd]

Is it possible to still smell gas but not have any flammable fumes?

Yes it’s possible, having gasoline fumes in the air doesn’t mean there’s 100% chance you can ignite it. You need the proper air to fuel ratio for ignition.

 

[Owner4523]

Yes it’s possible, having gasoline fumes in the air doesn’t mean there’s 100% chance you can ignite it. You need the proper air to fuel ratio for ignition.

Ok, I'm going to go to go sleep and trust all will be well. I'm going to guess I'm not the only Tesl owner who has spilled gas in their garage.

 

[AMPd]

Ok, I'm going to go to go sleep and trust all will be well. I'm going to guess I'm not the only Tesl owner who has spilled gas in their garage.

I see you’re in Dallas.
Have you ever driven through Odessa/midland area? Some nights the smell of gasoline/crude oil is so strong it seems like you can light a match and the entire place will catch fire.

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

It's not that easy to ignite gas with a spark. You have to get just the right mixture or nothing happens. An open flame is different.

That's how you can go to start a petrol engine and it doesn't unless it wants to. There is puddles of fuel and big fat sparks and a whole lot of nothing happening.

 

[karkrazy]

Thermal runaway

 

[AS9.9.]

Today I was adding some gas to our lawnmower in the garage and a small bit of gasoline spilled on the floor (which I can smell in my garage.) this was hours ago and the garage floor is dry, but I'm up now nervous that some how my car charging tonight could some how catch fire (the gas would be under where my car was parked.) It's 10:30 pm where I'm from and I'm wondering if I should go buy some kitty litter and put it on my garage floor to absorb any gas in the ground, park my car not in the garage tonight (and this not charging) or if I'm just overthinking...any advice, so I can hopefully sleep in piece.

(I somehow think a fire is going to start on the ground below my car while I'm sleeping, and my car battery will explode on me.)

Wouldn't it be easier for you to just clean it up than waste your time wondering what would happen? It can't take more than 5 minutes to clean up...

 

[jjrandorin]

My previous car didn't have an electric cord plugged into it...

No, but your previous car had a ton of gasoline which is like a big bomb sitting there. Your hesitancy around gasoline shows you know the fact that your previous car had somewhere between 12-20 gallons of the stuff sitting there.

This "battery explode' line of thinking is a common talking point for anti ev types but its not rooted in any more danger than ICE cars doing the same thing. In fact, the last time someone brought up something like this, it was pointed out that if you google spontaneous car fires you will likely find 10 times as many ICE cars that randomly catch fire as EVs, but no one bats an eyelash at parking their ICE car in the garage.

 

[holmgang]

In europe many gas stations have high voltage electric chargers. Charging the car doesnt spontaneously create sparks to ignite fuel vapors.

 

[Benito1283]

Turning a light on would create more of a ‘spark’ than any kind of spark the car charger is making.

Other options would be:
- crack garage window/door for a bit
- wipe up the gasoline
- unplug your car if you’re really worried
- not worry at all because it’s fine

 

[mborkow]

if you google spontaneous car fires you will likely find 10 times as many ICE cars that randomly catch fire as

While I agree with your general assertion, there are at least 10x as many ICE cars as EVs so not sure a google search ratio is all that definitive.