How to survive an exploding EV:
- Thread starter DonTom
- Start date
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Martian
Well-known member
At least one of those cars had a gas engine.
Skookum
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2018
- Posts
- 3,834
I thought they didn't explode or catch fire with any frequency that we needed to "worry" about how to escape one? 
Mark_K5LXP
Well-known member
I got a lesson about that recently, not with EV's but how to survive an exploding hand held radio. Over the years I've had lithium batteries on various electronics swell up, which prompts their immediate removal and replacement but never had one pop. Can no longer say that. A radio that I had on top of a filing cabinet, plugged in and charging with it's supplied wall wart exploded and caught fire. My wife was home at the time said she heard what sounded like a gunshot and when she looked down the hall could see the light from flames coming out of my office. She said it looked like a rocket and the entire radio was on fire. She ran out to get help from a neighbor (not noticing the fire extinguisher mere feet away...). By the time they got back the radio had fallen on the floor, and the carpet and a nearby plastic trash can were burning. 5 seconds later the dry chemical extinguisher my neighbor brought had it out, and a few minutes later the FD showed up to evacuate the fumes and ensure the scene was safe.
I don't know the exact brand of battery, but know it was 18650 cells and it was a battery I've used with this radio for several years. Could be one I got from ebay or amazon, not sure. It was used regularly and working perfectly fine, until it didn't. This is something that over the course of years I plugged in and left to charge countless times without a second thought. Cleaning up the mess I discovered tiny flakes of copper foil quite a distance away, so it definitely popped with authority. The soot on the top of the filing cabinet extended quite a horizontal distance too. The carpet in that room is actually carpet tiles so I cut out the burned section and peeled up a couple pieces from other parts of the room under some furniture, so there's no gaping hole (concrete slab underneath, no damage there). I had to repaint the wall and a good part of the ceiling to cover the soot. Anyway, just planting the seed that unlike lead acid, nicad and nickel metal hydride that when they fail, they basically turn inert but not the case for lithium. Lithium ion batteries are in a lot of consumer goods, from phones to flashlights, laptops to toothbrushes, leaf blowers to power tools. It might be that while the failure rate is low, like the EV statistic being 1/10 that of a gas car, it's not zero. When the firefighter asked what that thing was and I said it was a radio with a lithium battery, that's all he needed for his report. Have to wonder how often they get these calls for lithium fires. Had someone not been home to put it out there's no question the ending to this story would be very different. Not even sure what the practical answer to this is, these devices are pervasive in our lives and they need to be plugged in to function. Not sure if it's a valid answer but I've adopted the practice now of only charging this stuff while I'm home and awake, putting chargers on switched outlets so when the lights are out, so are the chargers. With any luck I've had my statistical sample event and it won't ever happen again, but just planting the seed it's good to have an awareness of how many of these things are around us and thinking about how they're used and stored. After dodging that bullet we also have a new appreciation for fire safety training both in the house and the RV. I have extinguishers in key places in the house and RV but just their presence doesn't translate to familiarity in locating and using them. A concerning part of that review is the small foam extinguisher I have by the RV stove my wife thought was spray cooking oil. Setting them side by side they look nearly identical. Imagine spraying cooking oil on a stove fire. Pause for thought.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
I don't know the exact brand of battery, but know it was 18650 cells and it was a battery I've used with this radio for several years. Could be one I got from ebay or amazon, not sure. It was used regularly and working perfectly fine, until it didn't. This is something that over the course of years I plugged in and left to charge countless times without a second thought. Cleaning up the mess I discovered tiny flakes of copper foil quite a distance away, so it definitely popped with authority. The soot on the top of the filing cabinet extended quite a horizontal distance too. The carpet in that room is actually carpet tiles so I cut out the burned section and peeled up a couple pieces from other parts of the room under some furniture, so there's no gaping hole (concrete slab underneath, no damage there). I had to repaint the wall and a good part of the ceiling to cover the soot. Anyway, just planting the seed that unlike lead acid, nicad and nickel metal hydride that when they fail, they basically turn inert but not the case for lithium. Lithium ion batteries are in a lot of consumer goods, from phones to flashlights, laptops to toothbrushes, leaf blowers to power tools. It might be that while the failure rate is low, like the EV statistic being 1/10 that of a gas car, it's not zero. When the firefighter asked what that thing was and I said it was a radio with a lithium battery, that's all he needed for his report. Have to wonder how often they get these calls for lithium fires. Had someone not been home to put it out there's no question the ending to this story would be very different. Not even sure what the practical answer to this is, these devices are pervasive in our lives and they need to be plugged in to function. Not sure if it's a valid answer but I've adopted the practice now of only charging this stuff while I'm home and awake, putting chargers on switched outlets so when the lights are out, so are the chargers. With any luck I've had my statistical sample event and it won't ever happen again, but just planting the seed it's good to have an awareness of how many of these things are around us and thinking about how they're used and stored. After dodging that bullet we also have a new appreciation for fire safety training both in the house and the RV. I have extinguishers in key places in the house and RV but just their presence doesn't translate to familiarity in locating and using them. A concerning part of that review is the small foam extinguisher I have by the RV stove my wife thought was spray cooking oil. Setting them side by side they look nearly identical. Imagine spraying cooking oil on a stove fire. Pause for thought.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
OP
OP
DonTom
Well-known member
I thought the thing was a bit too obvious, such as car on fire, try to get out. Duh.I thought they didn't explode or catch fire with any frequency that we needed to "worry" about how to escape one?
Other than perhaps an accident, I don't think we need to worry about it. And that would have to be a serious accident to damage the battery--perhaps wouldn't survive anyway.
While EV fires are MUCH less than ICE, they are usually more severe and more difficult to extinguish. Not sure why hybrids are the riskiest with vehicle fires. Perhaps because of the two energy sources.
Info from here.
"The data says hybrids are the most prone to catching fire, while EVs are the least prone."
-Don- Reno, NV
tlmgcamp
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2016
- Posts
- 855
Couldn't you just drive faster to blow it out?
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