EV Fires in Australia

[BubblesL]

Don't Panic.
Just doing some research.
1. Has anyone read or know of a Tesla catching fire in Australia?
2. Has anyone read or know of an EV catching fire in Australia?
I've been searching the internet and haven't any references to date and was just wondering if anyone else may know of such.

p.s. Proud Model S 100D owner

 

[trentbridge]

Don't Panic.
Just doing some research.
1. Has anyone read or know of a Tesla catching fire in Australia?
2. Has anyone read or know of an EV catching fire in Australia?
I've been searching the internet and haven't any references to date and was just wondering if anyone else may know of such.

p.s. Proud Model S 100D owner

There are two scenarios:

1) Caught fire after an accident when the car is seriously damaged, or
2) Caught fire when parked or being driven in normal operation.

I know of no RECENT cases of the newer Tesla vehicles catching fire spontaneously..
I believe that some earlier versions of the Model S have failed in this spectacular fashion..
but I believe Tesla engineered a "fix" that almost eliminates this as an issue - as long as you don't crash.

 

[ecarfan]

Has anyone read or know of an EV catching fire in Australia?

As part of your research you might want to see how many ICE vehicle fires there were last year in Australia and then calculate the odds of an ICE catching on fire.

Oh wait...ICE fires are so common that they probably aren’t even tracked and recorded. But one Tesla catches fire and it’s a global news story.

 

[Shock-On-T]

As part of your research you might want to see how many ICE vehicle fires there were last year in Australia and then calculate the odds of an ICE catching on fire.

Oh wait...ICE fires are so common that they probably aren’t even tracked and recorded. But one Tesla catches fire and it’s a global news story.

To be fair, EV fires are sometimes spontaneous, which doesn’t really happen for ICE cars. ICE cars need to be driven, or recently driven, for them to catch fire.
EVs can spontaneously combust when stone cold, with no recent driving.
Add to that the fire is so much more intense and hard to put out, and can reignite hours or days later, and I can see EV fires being pretty newsworthy.
Some jurisdictions require a burnt EV to be completely submerged in water!

 

[spidey]

To be fair, EV fires are sometimes spontaneous, which doesn’t really happen for ICE cars. ICE cars need to be driven, or recently driven, for them to catch fire.
EVs can spontaneously combust when stone cold, with no recent driving.
Add to that the fire is so much more intense and hard to put out, and can reignite hours or days later, and I can see EV fires being pretty newsworthy.
Some jurisdictions require a burnt EV to be completely submerged in water!

Umm... not correct. ICE cars spontaneously combust too, often due to electrical/wiring faults even when sitting there completely turned off. They really are so frequent that they’re not reported.

Another cause; Rodents and cars don’t mix. Rodent chews cable, cable shorts against chassis or other nearby metal, lots of heat, sparks, hey presto car fire.

12 volt car battery just as capable of that as EV high voltage battery. 12v car battery can dump an enormous current when shorted and it’s the current, not the voltage which creates heat.

Here’s one recent global recall for bmw’s catching fire, spontaneously, due to electrical fault.

BMW Recalls Roughly a Million Vehicles at Risk of Catching Fire

However yes, there are certainly unique features to a lithium battery fire just as there are unique features to petrol and diesel fires. They must be treated differently. We’re so accustomed to how to deal with petrol fires that lithium fire seems weird and new and scary but it’s rouhly the same process, just slower. And yes I saw the dunk tank they used on that bmw i8 brilliant idea. In fact more of the car might be salvageable after dunking it than if they’d let it burn completely.

 

[Grenadine]

Model 3 battery packs have never had this happen to them - just the older s and X packs.

 

[paulp]

Model 3 battery packs have never had this happen to them - just the older s and X packs.

Not correct, a model 3 recently exploded after an accident. The accident would normally have killed the occupants due to the severity. They walked away.

 

[Grenadine]

I did not explain myself clearly. By "this" I mean combustion with no prior accident. AFAIK, this has never happened to any model 3, but it has to s and x (albeit very rarely).

 

[markwj]

I know of no RECENT cases of the newer Tesla vehicles catching fire spontaneously..

There have been two in Asia within the past year. One in China, one in Hong Kong. Both Model S cars had no recent accident history and experienced battery fires while parked in garages.

Lots of rumours as to the cause (and a hell of a coincidence that the owners reportedly know each other). Tesla did release a software update (that resulted in reduced indicated range for older Model S cars, and triggered a lawsuit in USA).

Model 3 battery packs have never had this happen to them - just the older s and X packs.

Give it time. The car is still relatively new.

IMHO, the jury is still out on this one. EV fires are certainly harder to put out (and keep out) than ICE fires. But, are they more of less common? Tesla statistics say less, but those stats are based on comparison against the total vehicle population (including 30 year old klunkers), not relatively modern vehicles.

 

[ecarfan]

EVs can spontaneously combust when stone cold, with no recent driving.

CONTEXT: what you describe is extremely rare. In the US, where there are far more EVs than anywhere else in the world, there are only one or two of such incidents over the past decade. There have been a few incidents occurring while charging, but some of those may have been due to faults with the home charging setup and not related to the Tesla EV battery.

There have been two in Asia within the past year. One in China, one in Hong Kong. Both Model S cars had no recent accident history and experienced battery fires while parked in garages. Lots of rumours as to the cause (and a hell of a coincidence that the owners reportedly know each other)

I regard those as questionable until proven otherwise.

IMHO, the jury is still out on this one. EV fires are certainly harder to put out (and keep out) than ICE fires. But, are they more of less common? Tesla statistics say less, but those stats are based on comparison against the total vehicle population (including 30 year old klunkers), not relatively modern vehicles.

Agreed. Unfortunately, the data set of “All ICE vehicles less than 10 years old that have spontaneously caught fire” is likely not available. That said, I think it likely that some spontaneous ICE fires are simply not reported and are not included in the data.

 

[wycolo]

Even tho there may be none so far, you have now created this [thread title] as a 'thing' on google/bing/usw.
--

 

[markwj]

I regard those as questionable until proven otherwise.

I think Tesla's reaction to urgently release a software update (that was so serious it resulted in a lawsuit for reduction in range) is indicative of them suspecting/knowing that something is going on. I agree that the whole situation is 'fishy', but usually where there's smoke there's fire

 

[mrpseudonym]

Even tho there may be none so far, you have now created this [thread title] as a 'thing' on google/bing/usw.
--

Lets rebalance then. This yesterday at Kyogle northern nsw. CAR BURSTS INTO FLAMES AFTER CRASHING THROUGH PLAYGROUND AT KYOGLE | NBN News

 

[BenT]

The price of parking on dry grass? $200k highway patrol car goes up in flames

Don't park your modded BMW on the grass.

 

[cwerdna]

There are two scenarios:

1) Caught fire after an accident when the car is seriously damaged, or
2) Caught fire when parked or being driven in normal operation.

I know of no RECENT cases of the newer Tesla vehicles catching fire spontaneously..
I believe that some earlier versions of the Model S have failed in this spectacular fashion..
but I believe Tesla engineered a "fix" that almost eliminates this as an issue - as long as you don't crash.

I can't speak to Australia, and I don't know your cut off for "recent" but this happened to an S in 2018:
Tesla Model S of movie director, actress burns ‘out of the blue’. I don't think #1 was the case here.

This happened near my work in Dec 2018:
Tesla that caught fire in Los Gatos reignites at auto shop in Campbell

I don't know if the cause was determined. It definitely wasn't #1.

 

[cwerdna]

I regard those as questionable until proven otherwise.

Why? Tesla vehicle fire in Shanghai caused by single battery module – TechCrunch says that one of them was caused by a defective battery module. And, Tesla has issued OTA updates:

Tesla said, at the time, that the software update was being done out of “an abundance of caution.” The update is supposed to “protect the battery and improve its longevity.”