A friend of mine works with a local hazmat team and told me another Tesla horror story. Apparently, the other day a Tesla veered off the road, hit a guard rail and caught fire. Luckily the driver was able to get out safely. However, the fire department recommended to just let the car burn because of how much water it would take for them to put it out because of the heat of the fire.

So the fire department just lets the fire burn out. Eventually it stops and they bring in a tow truck. They strap it on, and as they're loading it all 12,000 of the lithium ion battery rods spill out of the car. Now these are both hazardous waste and extremely volatile. So the hazmat team comes in and has to shovel up all 12,000 of these rods while wearing full flame proof gear in 90° F heat and put them into 55 gallon drums to get picked up as hazardous waste. All knowing that at any point, they could catch on fire.

These cars are so fucking ridiculous. Whenever I see them I stay far away on the road. Fuck Musk, electric cars are a mistake and an environmental nightmare.

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[–] zifnab25@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

Visiting San Fran and, like, every third car is a Tesla. God only knows what happens in ten years when these get put in the trash all at once.

[–] Infamousblt@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

Electric cars? geordi-no

Electric Trains? geordi-yes

[–] CanYouFeelItMrKrabs@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Chinese companies are leading in EV development and some of them will start using sodium ion batteries which will be less volatile. Would love to see that tech widespread

[–] emizeko@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I love the swappable battery tech. driving into a depot and hot-swapping a battery >>>>> waiting for your fixed battery to charge

[–] CanYouFeelItMrKrabs@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I would love to see that come to scooters, I think it could work well in dense Indian cities where it's going to be hard to build charging stations for everyone

But charging speeds are pretty fast these days so it's not bad.

[–] emizeko@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

yea apparently they started with electric buses which have huge batteries and the payoff is larger

[–] nat_turner_overdrive@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Isn't water the last thing that should be used on an electric car fire?

[–] JuryNullification@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

For a metal fire, a direct stream of water will separate the water into hydrogen and oxygen. However, a wide cone of water will have a cooling effect and minimize the amount of volatile gases generated, which is why it takes so much water.