Tesla Model S battery reignited twice after Florida crash

Ok, so former reporter here.

There are several 'criteria for newsworthiness'. One of them is novelty. Another is general public interest. And there is substantial general public interest in Tesla as a whole, since it is doing new things. Additionally, many of the things Tesla is trying is also novel. So that is two things right off the bat that make basically anything that happens there newsworthy to some degree.

I get that people like to say "oh the media is just reporting on this failure because it's Tesla and they want them to fail," but to hold that view is to misunderstand the nature of news in general. Pieces like this aren't inherently "anti-Tesla", (which is what I am admittedly inferring you're getting at with your comment). But the fact that this is a new thing that humankind is experimenting with makes it newsworthy, and that includes its failures and successes.

I also admittedly didn't read the article yet :)

Electric cars are a different beast in terms of fire. Fire crews know how to put out a conventional fire. Remove the fuel and/or source of ignition and fire is out. Drain the tank, disconnect the battery terminals, and it is safe to haul away. A battery fire is different. You can never really remove the energy potential without discharging the batteries, something that cannot reasonably be done at an accident scene. So the wrecked Tesla is a different animal, something more newsworthy, than a standard wreck.

I read about a concept car that was going to integrate capacitors into its carbon fiber frame. High electrical potentials, encased in a mesh of carbon, doing 100kph down a public road. What could possibly go wrong? I think more boom than burn.

Moreover, you don’t see “Mercedes-Benz” or “Range Rover” ignites twice in a title. It would be “Sedan” or “SUV” ignited twice.

Here I’d be okay with “electric vehicle” catches fire twice or something to that effect.

Err, most cars don't catch fire days after they were in an accident. That's the scary part.

Electric vehicles require additional specialized handling after a crash. Who provides that training? Who provides the equipment and consumables for that special handling? Who covers that cost?

Very important factors which play into the lifespan of an electric car, factors which need to be discussed.

They clean up petrol and other leaked fluids after car crashes, what is the correct procedure to "disarm" a punctured lithium ion battery?

> The NTSB's report into that crash noted that after the fire had been extinguished and the car was taken to storage, the battery "emanated smoke and audible venting" but didn't ignite. However, five days later it reignited and had to be extinguished again.

Do regular cars ever catch on fire 5 days after being hosed down and junked?

Petrol or even propane doesn't bring its own oxygen and ignition source and doesn't require perfect structural integrity of its container to prevent them all from mixing. A dented or punctured gas tank or propane tank won't catch on fire (in earthly conditions) without an external ignition source. Lithium batteries on the other hand will catch fire if damaged. There's hundreds of videos on YouTube of people catching old cell phone batteries on fire by puncturing or denting them.

It's literally what Tesla recommends:

> USE WATER TO FIGHT A HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY FIRE. If the battery catches fire, is exposed to high heat, or is generating heat or gases, use large amounts of water to cool the battery. It can take approximately 3,000 gallons of water, applied directly to the battery, to fully extinguish and cool down a battery fire; always establish or request an additional water supply. If water is not immediately available, use dry chemicals, CO2, foam, or another typical fire-extinguishing agent to fight the fire until water is available.

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/2016_Mod...

There isn't enough lithium at play to worry about water+lithium fires. Not every battery cell is exposed. The water is needed to reduce temperature, to prevent undamaged cells from being cooked by the burning ones. Foam removes oxygen but that doesn't reduce the energy potential contained in the damaged cells It won't prevent them from cooking off their neighbours like water will.

Water is also needed to unsure and carbon fiber doesn't burn, releasing all sorts of nasty stuff.

Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIB) don't react violently to water, the lithium contained within them is minimal and disbursed. It's not the solid clump of raw metal form your chemistry professor might have used to demonstrate the reactivity of such metals.

The concern with LIBs is a short circuit to the cell causing a thermal runaway as it rapidly discharges. The heat can cause the battery or surrounding components to combust. A short can occur due to a puncture, rupture, or blunt force (e.g. Samsung Note explosions).

Water is the most effective way to cool the batteries.

The father claims that he set his son's car to have a speed limiter. However we have no reason to believe that the son didn't try to remove the limiter. Given the son's previous behavior, there is every reason to believe that the son would have noticed the limiter and tried to turn it off.

It would have been some sort of aftermarket modification (the only speed limiter available to end users at the time was part of “valet mode” and had a limit of 70MPH) so it’s not too surprising if it failed.

Your point doesn't make sense. There's speed limits for cars too. My ebike does 45mph doesn't mean I'm allowed to go that fast.

Fire needs heat, fuel, and oxygen. Take away just one of those and no more fire.

Water has normally been used to absorb heat, and takes some oxygen away. But electrical fires you need something else like CO2, powder, or halon.

Legal or not, 85 is the natural flow of traffic on Silicon Valley freeways when they're not congested.

Good thing then that it's not about "car caught on fire", but more specific than that.