Sandy's rant. lol. I love this man.

[firsttruck]

I think he is right though. "Most" ICE fires are the result of accidents.

Actual it is almost even. Not a big difference. Almost half of vehicle fires are non-crash related.


U.S. National Fire Protection Agency, Vehicle Fires (ALL Causes)
Every year on average, 243,780 car/truck/semi fires, 381 deaths, 1,365 injuries, $1.3 billion in vehicle & property damage.

Mechanical failure or malfunction is the cause of 49% of the fires.

https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/...-reports/US-Fire-Problem/ostypeofvehicle.ashx

Most EV fires happen while parked and charging.

ICE vehicles also have a slightly higher risk of fire during refueling too.

Fires at Refueling Sites ( gas stations ) Appear To Be Static Related
Petroleum Equipment Institute ( PEI )
March, 2010
https://www.pei.org/sites/default/files/PDF/refueling_fire_incidents.pdf

 

[Ogre]

I suspect the number of vehicle fires caused by idiots tossing lit cigarettes and having them end up on flammable objects in the back seat will remain the same regardless of vehicle type.

 

[firsttruck]

I suspect the number of vehicle fires caused by idiots tossing lit cigarettes and having them end up on flammable objects in the back seat will remain the same regardless of vehicle type.

At least if they had an electric car the smoker should not be blowing up their ICE car & gas station while refueling.

 

[tidmutt]

I wonder if poorly maintained EVs are going to be prone to randomly catching fire while driving down the highway. Or more likely to catch fire wile charging for that matter. Batteries are largely self-contained. Assuming the pack isn't pierced, how long are they safe for?

What maintenance?

I’ve never heard of a correlation between Tesla battery age and risk of catching fire.

The risk of Tesla EVs catching fire is much lower than gas cars. This has been apparent for years. Tesla also highlights this in their latest Tesla Impact Report…

https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2020-tesla-impact-report.pdf

They have first responder documentation etc. Sounds like equipment will need to evolve to match the EV trend.

 

[Crissa]

Electrical cables' insulation eventually fails as it ages.

No idea what that'll mean in the future, but I had to replace some of the wiring in my dad's father's golf cart after thirty-odd years.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Electrical cables' insulation eventually fails as it ages.

No idea what that'll mean in the future, but I had to replace some of the wiring in my dad's father's golf cart after thirty-odd years.

This is kind of what I was thinking of more than forgetting to change the oil.

A lot of the things which go wrong with modern cars are things which aren't on the maintenance schedule. When I see car fires, they are more often older cars... 20-30 years or more which are way beyond what the manufacturer's normal maintenance schedule covers. My daughter's bug likely needed a 20+ year old fuel line or oil line changed out or something.

After 30 years of grit and crap working it's way into various joints and spaces where it was never intended to be, it's hard to say what issues will crop up. I doubt it'll be as bad as ICE vehicle failures, more likely there will be some kind of major electronic system fail and the vehicle will get scrapped because the chemicals in the battery is worth more than the car.

 

[Quicksilver]

Electrical cables' insulation eventually fails as it ages.

I noticed that most EV's have a flat bottom that usually houses the battery pack.
Does anyone here know if the packs are sealed to prevent grit and grime from getting into the nether regions of Teslas to include the CT?
Concerning the deterioration of electrical cables should the owner take it upon himself to have the pack dropped periodically to check for corrosion or other issues? What would be a reasonable time to drop the pack the first time.......5 years......10?
Probably something the do it yourselfer might not want to tackle.
The old adage "out of sight out of mind" is often true where maintenance is concerned.

 

[Crissa]

Does anyone here know if the packs are sealed to prevent grit and grime from getting into the nether regions of Teslas to include the CT?

Yes. There are spaces so that the body drains, and older versions did have some corrosion issues on specific parts.
Rich Rebuilds has a few videos where he's shown the battery packs. Tesla has learned alot from these earlier packs.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Concerning the deterioration of electrical cables should the owner take it upon himself to have the pack dropped periodically to check for corrosion or other issues?

I think the pack itself is not an issue, it's going to be filled with epoxy and batteries.

 

[Crissa]

I think the pack itself is not an issue, it's going to be filled with epoxy and batteries.

And coolant fluid.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

Electrical cables' insulation eventually fails as it ages.

No idea what that'll mean in the future, but I had to replace some of the wiring in my dad's father's golf cart after thirty-odd years.

-Crissa

To add to that, I'll bet the plastic insulation on modern EV's high voltage wiring is in an entirely different class of durability compared to what your dad's old golf cart used.

 

[Ogre]

And coolant fluid.

-Crissa

I was thinking about that, but I suspect there are a lot of failsafes built in to prevent the battery from getting used when the coolant is not flowing.

Of course redneck engineers might disable those failsafes much as they disable components of ICE engines to keep them running. Then people are driving around in potential fire bombs.

 

[firsttruck]

This is kind of what I was thinking of more than forgetting to change the oil.

A lot of the things which go wrong with modern cars are things which aren't on the maintenance schedule. When I see car fires, they are more often older cars... 20-30 years or more which are way beyond what the manufacturer's normal maintenance schedule covers. My daughter's bug likely needed a 20+ year old fuel line or oil line changed out or something.

After 30 years of grit and crap working it's way into various joints and spaces where it was never intended to be, it's hard to say what issues will crop up. I doubt it'll be as bad as ICE vehicle failures, more likely there will be some kind of major electronic system fail and the vehicle will get scrapped because the chemicals in the battery is worth more than the car.

The only cars I had that caught fire were way less than 20 years old ( 4 years , 12 years), well maintained & never on dirt roads.

All those recalls I listed for fire issues by auto OEMs were for new cars and still fairly new cars (1-5 years).

 

[firsttruck]

.....
Collisions were the leading cause of vehicle fires that resulted in death."

https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/...nd-reports/US-Fire-Problem/osvehiclefires.pdf

There should be nothing surprising about the death rate being higher for collision caused fire vs mechanical defect fires.

Collisions are normally
1. quick surprise events (no warning).
2. High risk of instant large leak of flammable fluid with sparks from collision to ignite or even short time until explosion.
2. collisions jam doors so occupants have trouble exiting.

With fires from mechanical defects you usually have much longer times from start to serious danger. Also doors are not jammed. Smoke is commonly detected by occupants while they have time & chance to exit. Start point of fire is usually small leak of flammable fluid or small patch of shorted wire, NOT instant large fluid leak. More time before high risk of explosion.

 

[Ogre]

The only cars I had that caught fire were way less than 20 years old ( 4 years , 12 years), well maintained & never on dirt roads.

All those recalls I listed for fire issues by auto OEMs were for new cars and still fairly new cars (1-5 years).

Yeah, newer cars catch fire too.

But driving down the highway, when I see vehicle fires, it's usually a beat up 30 year old car kept on the road with duck tape and bailing wire. They are also the ones that fire super-heated sparks out their exhaust and start fires on the side of roads as well.