New Batteries For EV's

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,783
"Fire needs oxygen, a spark, and fuel. Because the point of a lithium-ion electric vehicle is to store energy, the fuel is always there. EV batteries are meant to be tightly packed and isolated from other parts of the car, but an incident like a catastrophic crash might quickly introduce oxygen and heat to the brew."

I've read enough.
The challenge, I think, is to make batteries at least as "safe" as gasoline can be. It would be unreasonable to demand perfect 100% safety from any energy source.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
18,117
According to NTSB data, batteries are already less likely to burn than ICE vehicles. The cost is higher for EVs, though.
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
6,331
The challenge, I think, is to make batteries at least as "safe" as gasoline can be. It would be unreasonable to demand perfect 100% safety from any energy source.
The flammability properties of gasoline (and other fuels) are very well understood and predictable. They can be made safe under normal operating conditions.

The same cannot be said about the battery technology used in EVs.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,335
The flammability properties of gasoline (and other fuels) are very well understood and predictable. They can be made safe under normal operating conditions.

The same cannot be said about the battery technology used in EVs.
These batteries are like a dangerous Hydrazine rocket fuel. Venom Everything you need for explosive ignition, very high temperature combustion and deadly gas in the package separated by a thin ion membrane.
Ticking time bombs, that when they do go bad (yes it's rare but so are most fires, go bad so quickly people are shocked at the level of destruction from a 'battery'. These fires have unique attributes and are very difficult to extinguish much like the hydride fire hazard in the semiconductor manufacturing
https://toxandhound.com/toxhound/ff-phosphine/


 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
6,331
To be fair, battery safety is far from being the only concern when it comes to EVs
As I said in another thread:

“In other words - and this is the rock-solid principle on which the whole of the Corporation's Galaxywide success is founded - their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws.”
― Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,783
Tesla deployed a technical expert to the scene to assist in assessing high-voltage hazards and fire safety. Traffic on I-80 was diverted as emergency responders worked to control the fire, using about 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames and cool the vehicle’s batteries. Air quality measurements were conducted, and a thermal scanner monitored the batteries’ temperature. Additionally, CAL FIRE used an aircraft to apply fire retardant to the immediate area as a precautionary measure
 

Thread Starter

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
13,716
That's interesting about 25 EV's vs 1500 Gas cars catching fire.
the EV fires are much worse though.

So their plan sounds like it's about the flow of information regarding the different manufacturers. Gee, doesn't that sound like the best fix. "We never use Walmart batteries" read as: "We always use Walmart batteries" :)
It's hard to do that with just information. There has to be something else. I don't know what offhand, but then I do not manufacture batteries either :)

But then again if I was in a crash I would not want to be caught under a 1000 pound battery either :)
Especially if it was on fire ! :)
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,335
Finally, it seems (from very early unreliable info) the battery energy density explosive concept been field tested (the alternative being a supply chain attack to insert 'loads' into the pagers).
https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/lebanon-news/796406/understanding-the-pager-and-how-it-can-explode/en


What to know about pagers and how they can explode
According to preliminary information, Tuesday's breach may have been due to the device’s battery overheating and exploding. There is also inaccurate speculation about the arrival of a new batch of suspicious pagers.

According to information obtained by LBCI, initial reports suggest the pager server was compromised, leading to the installation of a script that caused an overload. This likely resulted in the overheating of the lithium battery, which then exploded. The physical damage sustained by the device’s user can vary from severe to minor, depending on the area in contact with the device.
https://gomerblog.com/2016/12/samsung-galaxy-pager/
Samsung Galaxy Pager Explodes, Intern in Critical Condition
Samsung Galaxy Pager Explodes, Intern in Critical Condition
Dr. Glaucomflecken -December 21, 2016
DURHAM, NC – An internal medicine intern Becky Lambert is in critical condition today after her Samsung Galaxy pager overheated and exploded. The incident occurred at 3 AM this morning following a sudden burst of pages.

“It was the perfect storm,” reports fellow intern Kim Gaines. “[Lambert] had just admitted 6 patients within a 15-minute period. Unfortunately, she forgot diet orders and PRN Tylenol for all of them. The number of pages she got was like nothing I had ever seen. I guess the Samsung Galaxy pager just couldn’t handle it.”

This is the first case of pager explosion for the beleaguered tech company since its Galaxy Note 7 phones began exploding earlier this year. Jong-Kyun Shin, the CEO of Samsung, was shocked when he heard the news.
 
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nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,335
Firefighters arrived at a report of a rubbish/trash fire and found 4 Telsa Vehicles fully engulfed in flames.
The fire was at the Tesla Dearlerships’ Service Center.
The cars were up against the building, and there was a concern that fire was extending into the building as the windows of the building were blown out from the heat of the fire.
Firefighters attacked the fire, it took over 40 minutes to completely extinguish the fires.
The 4 Teslas were destroyed.
It was the pagers.
 

Thread Starter

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
13,716
That's interesting about 25 EV's vs 1500 Gas cars catching fire.
the EV fires are much worse though.

So their plan sounds like it's about the flow of information regarding the different manufacturers. Gee, doesn't that sound like the best fix. "We never use Walmart batteries" read as: "We always use Walmart batteries" :)
It's hard to do that with just information. There has to be something else. I don't know what offhand, but then I do not manufacture batteries either :)

But then again if I was in a crash I would not want to be caught under a 1000 pound battery either :)
Especially if it was on fire ! :)
With that post I feel that in joking around I have misrepresented Walmart batteries. I should have mentioned that although I made Walmart batteries sound a little inferior, I have actually used Walmart car batteries in a car I had a while back and they lasted way beyond the warranty date, significantly beyond. I haven't bought one in a very long time now though because there are places closer to home now that sell batteries for cars so I tend to go with those now. I think Walmart has the best prices though, and maybe Cosco second.
 
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