Tesla Plaid up in flames

[blue92lx]

I can say from being in the Electric RC hobbies back in the day you always had to be SUPER careful how you stored your batteries, charged them, handled them, etc. If they got puffy at all you got rid of them right away. I used to charge mine in a little closable box just in case something random happened and it burst into flames it would at least be somewhat contained.

Battery fires are no joke, I've never seen one in person but you can see videos on YouTube what happens if you puncture an RC battery or it goes bad. It's like instantaneous, intense flames. They generally go out fairly quickly, but by then your car is on fire and it'll burn down like the Plaid did. And those are little RC batteries, I can't imagine the heat and intensity from a battery bursting that's the size of a car. But it's so hot so fast I'm really surprised the driver got out. Kind of makes me happy the Mach E has real door handles just in case.

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[AZBill]

I have had two RC batteries go up in smoke, one was caused by a poorly designed aircraft that had a screw that punctured the battery pack. The manufacturer admitted to the design flaw and replaced my airplane for free.

Many years ago I was behind an F-150 going down the freeway and it started burning. The driver got out safely, but it was leaking gas out the bottom like a garden hose, likely ignited from the hot exhaust. I think I later heard of a recall on these.

 

[BalsaDust]

My first new car lasted exactly one week! bought a Fiat X19 in 1976 and drove it for that week on the gas the dealer put in the tank. I had stopped at a local gas station to fill the tank and as I started pulling away the attendant started yelling at me so I stopped to hear what he was saying, it was "your on fire".
Unfortunately it was a know issue with the car due to a loose hose on the tank fill. Needless to say I was ok but the X19 literally burnt to the ground, mostly due to the fire department not knowing how to handle a car fire.

Tony

 

[ARK]

My first new car lasted exactly one week! bought a Fiat X19 in 1976 and drove it for that week on the gas the dealer put in the tank. I had stopped at a local gas station to fill the tank and as I started pulling away the attendant started yelling at me so I stopped to hear what he was saying, it was "your on fire".
Unfortunately it was a know issue with the car due to a loose hose on the tank fill. Needless to say I was ok but the X19 literally burnt to the ground, mostly due to the fire department not knowing how to handle a car fire.

Tony

That’s incredible about your first Fiat. I hear the new Giulias also have reliability issues. In your case though, you didn’t even get the chance to Fix It Again, Tony, it literally burnt to the ground!

 

[Carsinmyblood]

My dad's 1972 Coupe DeVille burned to the ground right in front of our house. He drove down the block, smelled smoke and drove backwards and parked on the street. He ran into the house for the extinguisher under the sink. I rolled out the hose but it didn't reach.

Despite emptying the extinguisher, it was a total loss. It started in the power seat loom. It was only 4 or 5 years old. Damn that was a nice car. Wonderbar radio, auto-dim headlights, monstrous engine....

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Way back in the day when I trained as a volunteer firefighter, we were taught that automobile fire calls were basically never rescue calls; they were clean-up calls (people usually escape vehicle fires, but the vehicles basically never do). Fortunately I never had to deal with one.

The latest data I have on hand says that automobile fires are approximately 20% of fire department calls. Mechanical failures (leaks, breaks, worn-out parts, backfires, etc) account for around 60% of automobile fires while electrical issues account for around 23% of vehicle fires.

I would be curious to see newer data once there are enough EVs on the road to separate those out in the databases.

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