Electrical autos can catch hearth if they’re inundated by saltwater, so homeowners who stay within the path of a significant storm like Hurricane Helene ought to take precautions and put together for the likelihood that they’ll be unable to cost their vehicles throughout an influence outage.
What can EV homeowners do?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV homeowners this week to get their autos to increased floor earlier than Hurricane Helene arrived. Though the issue is uncommon, there have been numerous situations in recent times of electrical autos igniting after hurricanes.
Maintaining electrical autos out of standing water is the easiest way to keep away from the potential of a fireplace.
Tesla affords comparable recommendation about avoiding letting its autos develop into submerged if in any respect potential, but when that does occur the carmaker suggests towing the car at the very least 50 ft away from constructions or something flamable till it may be inspected by a mechanic.
One of the simplest ways to get by means of an influence outage is to observe the identical type of recommendation your dad could have given you about maintaining your gasoline tank full to be sure to wouldn’t be stranded. Maintaining your electrical car charged affords essentially the most flexibility.
After all, electrical car homeowners received’t have the ability to cost their vehicles throughout an influence outage, so they could want to observe how a lot they drive. However EVs aren’t any worse off than standard autos as a result of gasoline stations can’t pump gasoline in an influence outage both.
How frequent are EV fires after flooding?
The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration has been researching this downside because it was first seen after Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast in 2012. However nobody appears to have detailed statistics on simply how typically this occurs.
Two years in the past, Hurricane Ian compromised the batteries of as could as 5,000 electrical autos, and 36 of them caught hearth.
A number of extra electrical autos caught hearth in Florida final yr after Hurricane Idalia, though that storm was weaker than Ian. Researchers at NHTSA speculated that it could have additionally helped that extra folks had been conscious of the issue and moved their autos to increased floor earlier than that storm.
Nevertheless it occurs typically sufficient that Florida officers had been apprehensive concerning the chance earlier than Hurricane Helene arrived as a result of they had been anticipating a doubtlessly devastating storm surge as much as 20 ft deep within the northwestern a part of Florida.
These fires do appear to be linked particularly to saltwater as a result of salt can conduct electrical energy. Related issues haven’t been reported after freshwater flooding in California that was pushed by heavy rains early this yr.
What causes EVs to catch hearth?
Electrical autos with lithium ion batteries can catch hearth if the batteries brief circuit and begin to warmth up. Tom Barth with the Nationwide Transportation Security Board mentioned that if the warmth begins to unfold between completely different cells within the battery again it will probably trigger a sequence response known as thermal runaway.
“If the saltwater is ready to bridge the hole between the constructive and detrimental terminals of battery, then it will probably trigger a brief circuit,” mentioned Barth, who’s chief of the particular investigations department of the NTSB’s workplace of freeway security.
Carmakers do design their batteries to attempt to stop this downside. There are sometimes separations or insulation boundaries between completely different cells within the battery pack, and producers take steps to maintain moisture out. However they do have to incorporate methods for the batteries to vent warmth.
“The place it begins to be an issue is you probably have the batteries submerged in standing water. That’s the place it begins to beat the moisture seals within the battery,” Barth mentioned.
Generally electrical autos can catch hearth lengthy after the floodwaters have receded as a result of even after the water evaporates salt that may conduct electrical energy could also be left behind. So it’s essential to have them checked out if they’re submerged.
“It’s not like each car that will get flooded is due to this fact going to ignite and catch hearth,” Barth mentioned.
The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration mentioned it’s working to enhance battery security as officers be taught extra concerning the issues. The company has proposed updating a number of the security necessities for electrical car batteries to scale back the dangers.
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