Comments on: No Injuries In Tesla Model S Fire — Contained In Front Trunk, As Designed (& Putting This Fire Into Perspective)

By: Jouni Valkonen

Jouni Valkonen — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:06:00 +0000

Another Tesla fire after a crash. This time in Mexico. Fire was again limited into front section of battery pack:

By: Jouni Valkonen

Jouni Valkonen — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 05:02:00 +0000

There has also been few Fisker Karma battery fires. But as it was commercial failure and was discontinued, it is most probable that fires were caused by poor desing.

This burnt Nissan LEAF however is interesting, because only thing that survived intact from car fire was the LEAF battery!

http://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/gallery/nissan-leaf-battery-pack-survives-massive-fire_1.jpg

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 16:33:00 +0000

Sometime back Tesla Ss passed the cumulative 80 million mile mark.

There have been only two EV fire events other than the Tesla that ran over a piece of steel in the road which punctured the battery pack.

A BYD e6 was hit by a gasmobile which was traveling over 100 miles per hour. The crash started a short in the car’s electrical system which set interior fabric on fire. The fire eventually spread to the battery pack but only part of the batteries burned.

A Chevy Volt was intentionally wrecked during safety testing. Following the wreck the battery pack was not properly disconnected/secured as should be done with any vehicle battery. Some hours (days?) later a smoldering fire started.

Last year there were over 170,000 gasmobile fires in the US.

By: Zé Miguel Santos

Zé Miguel Santos — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 15:11:00 +0000

Oh, i understand your point and at the same time i also have to agree with Elon Musk. I mean, with the current data the 100 million figure is all you can get. Would be interesting to compare numbers with other electric cars, or the overall electric market.

By: Jouni Valkonen

Jouni Valkonen — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 13:59:00 +0000

yes, there is only one fire event. In order to be meaningful data, there must be at least 10–20 fire events.

By: Zé Miguel Santos

Zé Miguel Santos — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 11:15:00 +0000

” Tesla has absolutely no data to claim that one Tesla fire occurs at every 100 megamiles.”

Do you have the data to confirm it is false? Tesla sold more than 13.000 model S, the 100 million miles number isn’t as absurd as you claim it to be.

By: Robert Wright

Robert Wright — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 12:32:00 +0000

With respect to the statement “it was correct to apply water” to the burning lithium ion battery, is neither the best nor safest method to extinguish a fire associated with these batteries. Water introduces a host of other potential problems not to mention conductivity! Check out the NFPA and experts in the battery industry for proper extinguishing material & methods.

By: William Jackson

William Jackson — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 00:52:00 +0000

TED You are just too silly!!!!!!!

By: Jouni Valkonen

Jouni Valkonen — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 22:14:00 +0000

no i am thinking that there is physical damage occurred into wirings. It is not about the cells themselves but that there are thousands of cells wired into series and parallel. Battery pack takes very much damage from bumps and corrosion during the 10 year life time and some times the last heavy hit may be the last straw.

It does not require major short circuit when battery catches fire and then fire easily escalates into nearby cells.

By: sranger

sranger — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:47:00 +0000

That is completely false with lithium ion batteries. You may be thinking about the way the lead plates in lead acid batteries short out. This does not happen as Li batteries age….

By: Jouni Valkonen

Jouni Valkonen — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:30:00 +0000

all battery fires are due to short circuits and as battery pack gets old the probability for short circuit gets up, as things tend to break down when they get old.

By: sranger

sranger — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 19:34:00 +0000

The cells DO NOT get more unstable with age…. If anything they would be more stable as they would have less energy in them…

Also statistic prove that the risk of fire goes up a as ICE vehicles age.. Mainly due to lose fuel lines, fitting and brittle rubber.

By: Ted Smith

Ted Smith — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 19:07:00 +0000

GOODBYE, TESLA!!!!

By: J_JamesM

J_JamesM — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 03:47:00 +0000

The modules are the same rationale behind the gas cells of Zeppelins, or the many watertight bulkheads of a battleship. Personally, I’d take the modules over putting your entire (highly flammable) energy source in one tank.

By: Jouni Valkonen

Jouni Valkonen — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 22:53:00 +0000

Note that there is minor error in Elon Musk’s statement: Tesla has absolutely no data to claim that one Tesla fire occurs at every 100 megamiles. Elon cannot make this conclusion from single case, and it was very probably a freak accident that should not happen.

Anyway the daily collective Tesla mileage increases exponentially and we should have soon enough statistic to see how often Teslas are catching fire on accident conditions.

There is however important to note that when electric vehicles reaches the end of their life span, the fire risk may increase as cells gets more unstable. But it will take several years before we have data from the old electric vehicles. And probably we will never have this data, because EV technology evolves faster than cars get older.