When we are all EV drivers

[williamwright]

That's a bit rubbish if you need to go out again as soon as you've grabbed a few things and had a cuppa.

Good grief. I didn't realise it was such a bad idea. I'm definitely not getting an electric car then.

So there's a good chance the garage might catch fire. My garage is under the house. This isn't a good idea at all then. Terrible, terrible, idea.

Bill

[williamwright]

It's to be hoped they are! What if the need the car later on? You wouldn't leave a car overnight with an empty tank would you?

Bill

[SH]

the same can happen if your non-EV has an electrical fault Vauxhall Zafira style or you have a petrol leak, then the next electrical spark results in a Whoooosh boom.

[Tim+]

Do you arrive home every day with an empty tank? No, you plan ahead a bit. That?s all that?s needed.

Tim

[williamwright]

No because it only takes five minutes to fill up.

Bill

[The Natural Philosopher]

No, I dont have an electric car.

[SH]

I'll just put this here.....

[Paul]

The water does not put out the fire.

The water is only for cooling.

Even the batteries in your laptop can go into thermal runaway. Yet, people take no special precautions with their home lithium devices. Familiarity breeds contempt.

There are many staged laptop fires, where someone has poured a flammable fluid on the laptop for effect. A real laptop fire looks similar to this. So at least keep the drapery away from the laptop :-)

And the trigger time for thermal runaway, does not have to be immediate. Say you unplug a power adapter from a laptop, wipe your brow and say "whew, dodged a bullet". Well, an hour later, a fire with flame could start. The fire does not have to start "promptly". These fires can be sneaky ones. Thermal runaway takes time, until eventually some part of the cell is breached.

Another example. Lithium-powered skateboard. Probably not augmented, by the looks of it.

On some of the Tesla power storage products (free standing cabinets), the fire rate remains relatively subdued. Only additional fuel load provided next to the cabinet, accelerates cabinet destruction (petrol tanker runs into cabinet). So at least some lithium designs, the packaging is such that the acceleration effect is not present. There is sufficient isolation. You could have a cabinet fail, without the entire power storage site being affected.

It could really depend on the type of incident, like say a natural gas explosion next to the cabinet, crushing multiple cells.

But things like that skateboard, they're the worst for maximizing the effect. These little demos are why there are so many shipping restrictions on "lithium garbage products".

Paul

[Andrew]

And last year after lockdown people had no problem driving from places in the Midlands to Bournemouth and back in day just to go the seaside.

[Andy Burns]

So you're saying instead of giving a subsidy for EVs, put a 3% surcharge on them to pay for the infrastructure they need? Sounds good ...

[Adrian]

Tebay and Gloucester are supposed to be owned by the same family.

Adrian

[Tim Streater]

Perhaps you'd like to go over there and explain it to them. You'll get a sympathetic reception, I'm sure.

[ARW]

Ta.

EV car fires were briefly mentioned when I did my course.

The tutor said something like "ATM the fire brigade have been told to just let them burn out if there is no danger to life or property"

Things might have changed since then (March 2018)

[ARW]