Model S spontaneously catches fire on California Highway

[vcor]

The problem is having access to 5K gallons for a single accident / location. If there are no hydrants nearby, some fire trucks can only hold 500 gallons of water.

If there is not enough water or any water, just like an ICE car the vehicle burns itself out over time. I'd think the larger concern is items nearby catching on fire.

I wonder how long do EVs and ICE cars take to burn out if no fire suppression activity takes place. Once Google search claims ICE cars take 45-60 minutes to burn out. Clearly, EVs can take longer, but perhaps 4-5 hours? I wonder if they might be better just letting it burn and preventing the adjacent spread of the fire. The car is totaled anyway.

 

[vcor]

Can anyone verify this phenomenon? perhaps it wasn't lithium maybe something else near lithium in the periodic chart.

Yep. Lithium will ignite in water.

Likely was magnesium?

Magnesium must be ignited first, then it can burn in water, although water doesn't act as an accelerant.

Less than 1% of the battery is made from Lithium, and it is in a different form than bare metal lithium. My understanding is water on a battery fire does not make it burn faster or hotter (as it would if you had bare lithium metal).

A failed/shorted cell (perhaps due to a major crash) causes all that stored electrical energy to be released as heat. The liquid electrolyte in the cell is flammable and can catch fire under high heat. Adjacent cells, if heated to a high temperature then also fail and you can have a cascade effect. Tesla's design reduces the cell-to-cell failure modes unless the battery pack has been compromised such as a significant crash into the pack.

 

[Ridgeline]

much thanks vcor, that makes sense.

 

[MHATB FLA]

Tesla found in garage where massive Miami Springs house fire started

Firefighters battled an early morning blaze Thursday after a fire broke out in the garage of a Miami Springs home, officials said.

www.nbcmiami.com

I believe the investigation is still ongoing relating to what was the cause of the fire. This case in Miami Springs was an older Tesla model charging INSIDE a garage. Is it true that Tesla recommends against charging your care inside your garage?

 

[MP3Mike]

Is it true that Tesla recommends against charging your care inside your garage?

No.