\n
Lithium-ion battery fires<\/span> can be intense and frightening. As someone who used to repair second-hand smartphones, I\u2019ve extinguished my fair share of flaming iPhones with punctured lithium-ion batteries. And the type of smartphone battery in your pocket right now, is similar to what\u2019s inside of electric vehicles. Except, the EV battery stores way more energy\u2014so much energy that some firefighters are receiving special training to extinguish the extra-intense EV flames that are emitted by burning EV batteries after road accidents.<\/p>\nIf you\u2019ve been reading the news about EVs, you\u2019ve likely encountered plenty of scary articles about battery fires on the rise. Recently, the US National Transportation Safety Board and the California Highway Patrol announced they are investigating a Tesla semi truck fire that ignited after the vehicle struck a tree. The lithium-ion battery burned for around four hours.<\/p>\n
Does this mean that you should worry about your personal electric vehicle as a potential fire hazard? Not really. It makes more sense to worry about a gas-powered vehicle going up in flames than an electric vehicle, since EVs are less likely to catch fire than their more traditional transportation counterparts.<\/p>\n
\u201cFires because of battery manufacturing defects are really very rare,\u201d says Matthew McDowell, a codirector of Georgia Tech\u2019s Advanced Battery Center. \u201cEspecially in electric vehicles, because they also have battery management systems.\u201d The software keeps tabs on the different cells that comprise an EV\u2019s battery and can help prevent the battery from being pushed beyond its limits.<\/p>\n
How Do Electric Vehicle Fires Happen?<\/h2>\n
During a crash that damages the EV battery, a fire may start with what\u2019s called thermal runaway. EV batteries aren\u2019t one solid brick. Rather, think of these batteries as a collection of many smaller batteries, called cells, pressed up against each other. With thermal runaway, a chemical reaction located in one of the cells lights an initial fire, and the heat soon spreads to each adjacent cell until the entire EV battery is burning.<\/p>\n
Greg Less, director of the University of Michigan\u2019s Battery Lab, breaks down EV battery fires into two, distinct categories: accidents and manufacturing defects. He considers accidents to be everything from a collision that punctures the battery to a charging mishap. \u201cLet\u2019s take those off the table,\u201d says Less. \u201cBecause, I think people understand that, regardless of the vehicle type, if you\u2019re in an accident, there could be a fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
While all EV battery fires are hard to put out, fires from manufacturing defects are likely more concerning to consumers, due to their seeming randomness. (Think back to when all those Samsung phones had to be recalled because battery issues made them fire hazards.) How do these rare issues with EV batteries manufacturing cause fires, at what may feel like random moments?<\/p>\n
It all comes down to how the batteries are engineered. \u201cThere\u2019s some level of the engineering that has gone wrong and caused the cell to short, which then starts generating heat,\u201d says Less. \u201cHeat causes the liquid electrolyte to evaporate, creating a gas inside the cell. When the heat gets high enough, it catches fire, explodes, and then propagates to other cells.\u201d These kinds of defects are likely what caused the highly publicized recent EV fires in South Korea, one of which damaged over a hundred vehicles in a parking lot.<\/p>\n
How to React if Your EV Catches Fire<\/h2>\n
According to the National Fire Prevention Agency, if an EV ever catches fire while you\u2019re behind the wheel, immediately find a safe way to pull over and get the car away from the main road. Then, turn off the engine and make sure everyone leaves the vehicle immediately. Don\u2019t delay things by grabbing personal belongings, just get out. Remain over 100 feet away from the burning car as you call 911 and request the fire department.<\/p>\n
Also, you shouldn\u2019t attempt to put out the flame yourself. This is a chemical fire, so a couple buckets of water won\u2019t sufficiently smother the flames. EV battery fires can take first responders around ten times more water to extinguish than a fire in a gas-powered vehicle. Sometimes the firefighters may decide to let the battery just burn itself out, rather than dousing it with water.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lithium-ion battery fires can be intense and frightening. As someone who used to repair second-hand smartphones, I\u2019ve extinguished my fair share of flaming iPhones with punctured lithium-ion batteries. And the type of smartphone battery in your pocket right now, is similar to what\u2019s inside of electric vehicles. Except, the EV battery stores way more energy\u2014so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n
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