Teslas are bursting into flames in Florida after being flooded during Hurricane Idalia | Saltwater and lithium-ion batteries are a bad combination
Teslas are bursting into flames in Florida after being flooded during Hurricane Idalia | Saltwater and lithium-ion batteries are a bad combination::undefined
I’m all for bashing Tesla. It’s good fun. But this applies to all EVs and lithium ion batteries that came into contact with salt water.
Bad TechSpot! Bad!
I wonder if a laptop would blow up, too. Probably, right?
This warning applies not only to electric sedans, trucks, and SUVs but also to smaller and lighter electric vehicles like golf carts, scooters, and bicycles that also have rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
It’s in the article.
Teslas are by far some of the most popular EVs. When someone thinks EV they think Tesla.
At least near me I see 10 teslas for every ID.4, taycan or ev6. Until someone else steps up their game tesla has quite the lead on sales thanks to their head start. Volkswagen is the only company making a fairly affordable EV that people actually want and that only states recently. EV6 could catch up but Kia dealers are almost universally shit here in the US.
Depends how well the battery is packaged. Here’s a cheap disposable AA lithium battery dropped in a bowl of water - it bursts into flames almost instantly.:
youtu.be/cTJh_bzI0QQ?si=dgkKYSqo-zXulNt_&t=34…
However they had to disassemble that battery. If you just dropped the undamaged battery in the water nothing would’ve happened.
So - this really is Tesla’s fault. They should be wrapping a water tight barrier around the batteries.
One of the YouTubers I watch, Tavarish, is rebuilding a flooded McClaren. McClaren went to great lengths to water proof the car (IIRC almost all the connectors were fine and weather sealed). The car is an engineering marvel and it still had damage done to the battery and almost every inch of the car had water intrusion.
Not disagreeing with you but salt water tends to fuck shit up. Maybe a better solution is some kind of system with a series of sensors and other inputs that could disable the battery until it’s checked out? Or maybe better education on how dangerous lithium batteries can be.
Try the same experiment using salt.
The problem isn’t really about the water getting things wet, more about the salt in it adding conductivity that can corrode metals making holes and also shorting any exposed electronics.
As much as I dislike tesla and it’s unnerving ubiquity along with being under an unstable leader, we have to remember… These are land vehicles, not submarines. They weren’t designed for prolonged immersion in salt water. Most of the environmental testing very likely revolved around using chambers to simulate different weather patterns.
Pressure and immersion testing are generally used only for individual components that do get sealed, permanently. So if you were to seal the battery pack or even just sections, you would still need to connect it all to the electronics like the BMS and in/output. With enough time just these two points could allow a path to short the battery causing the cells to overheat, expand, crack any seals (further increasing the reaction), build enough pressure and eventually pop like a shotgun shells fired outside of a barrel
They weren’t designed for prolonged immersion in salt water.
No I disagree. Cars are submerged in water all the time in certain parts of the world. It’s unavoidable and they should not explode.
If it destroys the car, OK. But if the car explodes that has the potential to kill people, burn buildings down, etc etc.
Maybe all brands, but can’t be sure.
Tesla is “known” or at lest publicised in multiple places that they have pretty bad quality control, and I guess also bad design on some parts.
So bad protection on the battery at tesla design? Maybe? Is there a “review” on car internals somewhere? I have no idea.
Could another vehicle survive the same thing? Who knows, maybe? Maybe not?
Tho there are some who said they went with a tesla directly into water slashing over the hood. So maybe some are waterproof?
I looked at this awhile ago. There is a google doc maintained by some anti-Tesla investors who track every fire that can find. It is still much lower than the US average fires per car.
I think it gets more attention because:
The advice I’ve been given (on train/bus batteries) is to shove the vehicle if safe when it starts; then do whatever possible to fully submerge in fresh water. Obviously that isn’t really feasible.
Tesla doesn’t advertise so any clickbait involving them is fair game.
You know who does adverise? Other competing manufacturers and boy do they have a hard-on for advertising on news sites and broadcasts. Coincidence?
They are likely IP rated in some form or fashion, that means they are rated for protection for a period of time at a certain depth. Deeper water or longer time in water means you still get water past the seals.
It could also be a control fault or short on the electrical side allowing the other components to catch fire or overloading the batteries causing them to overheat and catch fire.
If manufactured properly, they should be.
Water ingress can happen where cables plug into places - literally like a straw that draws water towards the battery pack. Again, if properly sealed, this should not be an issue.
But I can’t imagine any modern vehicle surviving being flooded by saltwater. If not the battery then any other electrical component, or even the motor, would corrode over the coming days, weeks, months.
Yeah. I don’t know if teslas are particularly worse on the design side (but we can make an educated guess…) but I would not expect any EV to hold up for an extended period of submersion.
But also… people should realize how heinous all the water anywhere near an ICE car is when it is submerged. Or, you know, all the sewers that are flooded too.
Like, flood water is some of the vilest shit in existence. You are LUCKY if you only get hepatitis from swimming around in it.
Well tesla has been publicised in multiple places as having bad quality control.
So maybe I could also guess that they cut out some design costs, which may include battery protection which would in most cases not get in contact with water.
I have zero doubts the teslas are worse (hence the “educated guess” snark).
But also? This is not just holding up against water. It isn’t even holding up against salt water. It is holding up against battery acid, human feces, cleaning chemicals, oil, gasoline, etc. A car that has been caught in a flood is totaled and a biohazard. I don’t expect EVs to be particularly better.
I WOULD expect reasonable precautions to be taken. But if you are looking at standing water floods from hurricanes and the like? A few fires that are surrounded by water are the least of your worries. And there will be plenty of other fires for the disaster crews to deal with when they can.
I doubt their designs are hurricane + flood proofed.
Also the high voltage disconnect/fuse is under the seats. Flood that and you’ve got a problem.
If previous incidents are anything to go by, most batteries that actually react that way are physically damaged during the Hurricane part. Usually the teslas are fine even completely submerged.
Yes but a lot less.
Also yes.
Spicy pillows aren’t anything to fuck with.
right, the scam is taking a flood car north and not disclosing flood damage to an unsuspecting northerner.
It seems like it always happens every time there’s a bad flood/hurricane etc.
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