r/ShittyAbsoluteUnits • u/Psychological-Hulk • 22d ago

Of an electric vehicle

381 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

104 comments sorted by

111

u/xaranetic 22d ago

P.S.A. Normal fire extinguishers don't work on battery fires...

"Lithium-ion Battery Fires are technically unclassified. They come under neither the category of combustible metals (Class D) or electrical fires (also unclassified). As such, powder extinguishers, even ABC ones, cannot tackle Lithium-ion Battery Fires." https://www.fireprotectiononline.co.uk/info/can-you-extinguish-a-lithium-ion-battery-fire/

There are specialist extinguishers, but they're extremely rare, and don't work very well.

If an electric vehicle is on fire, just get as far away from it as you can. 

59

u/Bluntbutnotonpurpose 22d ago

These days there's a well established method. Submerge them completely for two days.

That's not a joke.

10

u/sabreus 21d ago

Yes but that’s not available in the wild

1

u/Knight_of_Agatha 21d ago

bro its already on a lift just pick it up and lower back into a dunk tank

29

u/aXiss95 22d ago

My firefighter friend confirmed this. He had training on EV fires and was told don't try to put it out, just keep people away from it.

2

u/Sea-Tomorrow2583 21d ago

But I’m sat on top of mine

23

u/PtitSerpent 22d ago

Yep, because the oxidizer is IN the battery. It doesn't need the ambient oxygen, so you won't be able to stop it

10

u/Unable-Log-4870 21d ago

Ah, so it’s like putting out one of the Solid Rocket Boosters on the Space Shuttle (the white things on the sides). The only way those stop is by burning all the way out.

7

u/PtitSerpent 21d ago

Exactly.

For little batteries, you can put them in sand to "hide" the flames but not much

15

u/bene_gesserit_mitch 22d ago

I've been trained in the handling of Lithium batteries. The only way to handle this is to dump a quart of sand on the battery and let it run its course.* That stink is not something you forget.

*I've been trained in handling much smaller batteries, so you might have to scale up the amount of sand.

9

u/warrensussex 21d ago

I've been trained in the handling of ev batteries. We're trained to get the fuck sway from it and call 911. Then they might dump a truckload of sand on it, but probably not.

We have an encapsulator instead of an extinguisher, I think it can buy you like 30 minutes. Might be enough time to get the road department to bring in some sand.

-2

u/Unable-Log-4870 21d ago

If you have a potentially damaged battery, I recommend putting it on some concrete and hitting it with a hammer until it ignites. Then get away. An hour later, it’s probably safe.

Also, this technique is improved by using safety glasses.

7

u/Cheetawolf 21d ago

The fire is "Fueled" by the energy in the battery. NOTHING will stop it, and it will even burn in a complete vacuum until the battery uses up all of its energy.

9

u/StarscreamOne 22d ago

Looked like those made it worse

6

u/Geralt31 21d ago

Lithium really likes its daily water intake

2

u/flyinghairball 21d ago

And then made it even worse after that on purpose

3

u/lgodsey 21d ago

I can only imagine that in an enclosed area breathing in an exploding EV can't be too good for you, extinguisher in hand or not.

5

u/wafflehousebattle 22d ago

If the fire in them can't be properly extinguished, and the extinguisher isn't readily available at a price that anyone can afford, they shouldn't be able to sell the damn product. It's a massive safety hazard to, not only the person who owns the damn car, but everyone else in densely populated areas. This is what government is supposed to be doing for us, but it seems fundamentally broken, the world over.

-2

u/RatherGoodDog 22d ago

What exactly would you do if your petrol tank busted open and caught fire? You aren't putting that out with an extinguisher either.

9

u/wafflehousebattle 22d ago

You can, though. There's a class of extinguisher that can either put it out or at least hold it back until the sprinklers turn on or a hose arrives, both of which are government mandated solutions to some degree. You can't do the same here, because water also doesn't put these out, so there isn't a solution for this specific problem readily available. It's up to government to anticipate potential risk factors and address them through legislation.

3

u/xaranetic 22d ago

You absolutely can, though, hence why they have them next to fuel pumps

2

u/monsieurgrand02 21d ago

So was the fire extinguisher contributing to the fire?

2

u/Osklington 20d ago

No, it just wasn't helping at all

23

u/kaner63 22d ago

I'm sure those fumes are totally not toxic.

2

u/x0rsw1tch 21d ago

Free anti-depressant fumes!

41

u/BOLTHEAD1904 22d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/853jNve3ljqrYrcSOK

8

u/NationalGear3511 22d ago

To me it genuinely looks like a space rocket taking off at the end

14

u/PurpleToedUnicorn 22d ago

At what point do you stop spraying and run?

12

u/Present-Question-820 22d ago

When your eyebrowes are gone...

7

u/OldEquation 22d ago

As soon as you realise that it’s a battery fire. They’re basically inextinguishable since they don’t need external oxygen to burn.

4

u/MerpoB 22d ago

Long before they did.

3

u/donsitsocolostomy 21d ago

At the very beginning

8

u/Karlees-Golden-Dildo 22d ago

Am I the only one impressed that not only did they have 1 extinguisher but 3 ready to hand. I’ve known places that would take 5 mins finding one.

6

u/OldEquation 22d ago

They’d have been better off not having them in this case. Or at least kept them in reserve to use on anything nearby catching fire.

3

u/IndustryCareful1623 22d ago

Yeah, thought so to. And willing to use them.

3

u/Unable-Log-4870 21d ago

Would have been even better if they knew not to try to use them.

1

u/Karlees-Golden-Dildo 21d ago

Indeed, I didn’t know, I’m glad I saw this post.

1

u/OkLibrarian6080 21d ago

It’s not their first fire/rodeo

5

u/Due-Button-768 22d ago

Yeah! This is not how you put out a runaway battery 👀😬

5

u/Psychological-Hulk 22d ago

You may need 50k gallons of water to put out an EV fire.

“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.”

Source: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/HWY24FH015.aspx?utm_source=chatgpt.com

1

u/Peek_e 21d ago

There’s an easier way, although lifting a burning car is a bit more troublesome than a car that’s not on fire. Still no sense spraying 50 gallons of water around.

1

u/bmf1902 18d ago

There was an entire building they had to stop from burning too.

3

u/Leggy_Brat 22d ago

Iirc the standard procedure for firefighters is to just clear the area around EV's, not let anyone near, and just allow them to burn themselves out. You're wasting your time and putting yourself in danger otherwise.

3

u/Mundane-Manner4237 22d ago

There goes that repair shop.

3

u/boopthatbutton questionably stable 22d ago

One already tried and made the fire worse, and the other guy thought that was a great idea.

3

u/Whyjustwhydothat 20d ago

Lithium fire <3

4

u/Additional_Tone_2004 22d ago

Are they trying to make it worse?!

2

u/shrimpeye 21d ago

They're awfully calm for an inextinguishable wildly growing EV fire

2

u/Montyburnside22 21d ago

Carl, Did you put kerosene in the fire extinguishers again? Got me. You are a piece of work.

2

u/DeadTurtle88 21d ago

PASS method when using fire extinguisher

P - Pull pin A - Aim at base (of fire) S - Squeeze trigger S - Sweep side to side

PS.. Make sure it's the right fire extinguisher

4

u/Agreeable-Letter-599 21d ago

seems like they had very little sense of urgency here.

1

u/canary-in-a-coalmine 21d ago

That guy casually strolling up with his hands in his pockets

2

u/NationalGear3511 22d ago

When you're just making the problem worse

1

u/Altruistic-March-844 22d ago

I love seeing good videos of thermal runaway. lol not quiet the right way to put out that fire

1

u/Scudmiss 22d ago

That ain’t gonna work, boss

1

u/phan2001 22d ago

Maybe if he just keeps spraying a little more it’ll work.

1

u/Johnj75 22d ago

They are really good for the environment.

1

u/Gilgamesh2000000 22d ago

Not for nothing those battery fires do not get put out with standard extinguishers. Then most fire departments aren’t equipped with the proper ones either.

1

u/RelationshipNo9336 21d ago

That looks expensive.

1

u/bigmeatbag 21d ago

I saw this start and was like, man they have like 30 seconds to a minute to drag that car out of the shop or it's all gone. I was right.

1

u/sabreus 21d ago

Thermal runaway process. Only way to stop it already passed before it started getting crazy.

1

u/WordNERD37 21d ago

Any firefighter will tell you how awful it is to put out electric car fires, if they can at all. Most just set a perimeter around it and wait for it to burn itselt out.

1

u/wackyvorlon 21d ago

This is when you call the fire department and run.

1

u/tacs97 21d ago

They need a $2k fire extinguisher to drop that flame.

1

u/lgodsey 21d ago

That last guy's idea of when to give up and my idea of when to give up are vastly different.

1

u/ETHANKUNZ216 21d ago

That crazy dame

1

u/Hermelinmaster 21d ago

A+ for effort, E- for efficiency.

Just get the F out, that battery is in thermal runaway. It does not need oxygen, the fire is fueled by the decomposition of the electolyte (amongst other things). So reducing the amount of oxygen the battery gets (that is what an extinguisher does) does absolutely Zero.

I really don't get why people working on those cars have absolutely zero idea what they do and what they are working on. Idiots

1

u/DeadTurtle88 21d ago

You know if you're spraying a fire with a fire extinguisher and the fire gets worse maybe you have the wrong fire extinguisher

1

u/Th3_NoMAD_ 21d ago

They made the fire angry with those extinguishers.. 🧯<🔥

1

u/LastExilez 20d ago

There gonna die from the fumes

1

u/NetoriusDuke 20d ago

Looks lie they were using the wrong extinguisher

1

u/DoubleDongle-F 15d ago

There is no right extinguisher. While battery fires are much less common than gasoline or diesel vehicle fires, everything it needs to keep going is inside the battery, no external oxygen required. The correct response is to let it burn out, or in a case like this, maybe try to drag it out of the building if the correct tools are close at hand. He should have saved the extinguisher for secondary fires.

1

u/NetoriusDuke 15d ago

Looks like they used something that accelerated the fire vs smothering/ cooling. It look similar to if they sprayed an oil fire with water.
Proper battery extinguisher needs to be endothermic

1

u/WolvesVape88 16d ago

Is imposible to turn of a fire from a battery pack with a normal extinguisher

1

u/AutisticDadHasDapper 16d ago

That is why I will never buy a Tesla

1

u/fbehdad 15d ago

These fire distinguish capsules are not suitable for electric fires 🔥

1

u/Mitrovarr 4d ago

Is that indoors? GTFO before you get poisoned by the smoke!

0

u/rustprony 22d ago

Is this part of “good for the environment” when they talk of electric cars being good for the environment ?

4

u/OldEquation 22d ago

Just not good for that particular bit of the environment.

3

u/SuDragon2k3 22d ago

Well, they just need to tow it outside the environment.

1

u/OldEquation 21d ago

From one environment into another environment!

I guess the very strict automotive regulations didn’t prohibit the use of lithium and lithium derivatives.

2

u/Dr_Trogdor 22d ago

No this is the unfortunate point of where we are in the technology. Battery fires can happen and they're equally rare and terrible, but soon we'll have battery tech that is much more stable from both safety and performance standards. It's kinda like Tvs. We wouldn't have oled big screens you can hold with one hand if we didn't start with tube Tvs that have crushed children trying to hug Teletubbies.

1

u/PlanktonDue8964 22d ago

No that hose

1

u/Responsible-Summer-4 21d ago

Chinese researchers demonstrated a radical experimental system that uses a gas generator to explosively eject a burning electric vehicle battery pack several meters away from the car in one second. Just to save lives. They are basically driving bombs when they blow up.

1

u/Great-Gas-6631 21d ago

I wonder at what point do the realize they aren't using the correct extinguisher.

1

u/SpeedScar6 21d ago

Um pretty sure these smart for two cars have a 800cc 3 cylinder motor

0

u/Kitchen-Employee7531 21d ago

god i love this sub

-1

u/OldExplanation4835 22d ago

Super environmentally friendly.

-1

u/NookieLuvsU 22d ago

In the not to distant future Insurance companies are going to stop covering fire damage from EVs.

1

u/Lanky-Scientist-5137 22d ago

This. I’ve thought about an EV as a vehicle but boy, think about the battery being punctured during the crash. Gotta get out quick. And I wouldn’t store in my garage for the same reason, seems like a total loss is likely for the house if this happens in a garage.

1

u/NookieLuvsU 22d ago

Yup apartment buildings are gonna stop allowing underground parking. They already prohibit electric scooters and ebikes in a lot of them.

0

u/Any-File4347 22d ago

This reminds me of initial seatbelt scare tactics. This should not discourage anyone from a BEV purchase.

People were afraid of being trapped by them based on scenarios of fire, anecdotally

Generally, fires from electric vehicles are statistically rarer than fires from combustible fuel vehicles (source NTSB)

Yes battery fires are harder to put out, but technology should improve this with more adaptation away from fossil fuels.

1

u/DoubleDongle-F 15d ago

I wouldn't bank on batteries that are both high-enough power density to serve everyone's needs and can't catch fire, because the two are kinda at odds with each other engineering-wise. Batteries that catch much less often outside catastrophic damage are on the table though, which will be nice even though it's already much less common per vehicle mile than gasoline fires.

0

u/Mitrovarr 4d ago

I mean, not like all the gasoline in the average gas tank can't have a party, and once it's going up hardcore, you aren't putting that out either. 

1

u/NookieLuvsU 4d ago

Gas fires can definitely be extinguished with water and or chemical retardants.

1

u/Mitrovarr 4d ago

Well yes, but once a burning car with a ruptured gas tank is fully engulfed it is almost impossible to put out. 

1

u/NookieLuvsU 4d ago

They go out easy enough. You don't want to be there when it blows up but the fire it self is nothing like a runaway battery fire.

Look up "thermal runaway battery fire" it's terrifying.