Electric vehicle battery causes fire at Sydney Airport, destroys five cars
abc.net.au
abc.net.au
Are people trying to steal battery packs now, then? - for what other reason would a detached battery be lying next to vehicles in a car park?
(I've always thought that EV battery packs should be standardised, with several easy-ish to replace/upgrade modules per car. But if they make up half the value of the vehicle or so, they also need to be very theft-resistant...)
“There had been some problem with the car and the battery had been removed, we believe that the car has suffered some mechanical damage which can contribute to a battery breaking down and catching fire without notice.
“We don’t have a concern about this broadly, it’s not often that electric cars catch fire.”
> (I've always thought that EV battery packs should be standardised, with several easy-ish to replace/upgrade modules per car. But if they make up half the value of the vehicle or so, they also need to be very theft-resistant...)
If you're there to steal few hundred kg battery pack you probably have angle grinder with you. Nothing says "no" to angle grinder.
I'm pretty sure cutting the wrong part of a car battery would be a big "no", and maybe the last "no" of your life
Ideally, once a pack is degraded, maybe after a decade, you'll be able to buy less expensive replacements that have more range, or even used packs salvaged from written-off vehicles - rather than scrapping the whole vehicle.
And will that claimed longevity be achieved in all conditions (weather/temperature and usage patterns)? - or only in optimum conditions?
Some internal combustion vehicles are kept running for several decades, with many replacement parts remaining available. But with non-standard battery packs and software locks it seems that EVs may have planned obsolescence built in, which goes entirely against the 'saving the planet' narrative.
Which used to be useful lifetime of tech. We should be kinda gracious that we can now have laptops and phones that last nearly a decade (also kinda disappointing because progress slowed down).
> Some internal combustion vehicles are kept running for several decades
only in places where attention for safety is a joke. other than collectible cars (which btw are now rapidly converted into BEV) these cars are public hazard and would fail yearly safety checks in all progressive countries.
> many replacement parts remaining available
Thats a function of how popular car was. Tesla's parts are already one of the cheapest, there are tons of super specialised mods purely because they are manufacturing millions of cars per year.
> software locks
other than disabling high voltage charging due to safety (which I agree might be a bit much but there for a reason - might be even regulatory) - can you list more examples?
Tesla salvage market is wild. Crashed Teslas by battery salvagers are snapped in auctions by hundreds of participants (in my small country) just purely to use their battery.
> planned obsolescence built in
pop media propaganda. we are at a peak of electronics recycling. companies routinely tout using 100% recycled materials. if you don't plan for obsolescence you are basically planning for pollution.
«With water»?! Lithium? I understood that those batteries for EVs are isolated in pools of special materials (according to local maintainers).
Edit: apparently, according to some, water is the way:
https://interestingengineering.com/video/tips-on-fighting-a-...
The stuff that starts the fire is the electrolyte - ethylene carbonate.
That's the problem with extinguishing batteries, you're not, you're just limiting the damage.
Now, I really wish that people would stop saying that LFP can be charge to 100% (without adversely affecting lifespan), or never catch fire. China's LFPs are cheap, inferior batteries. Period. Stop pretending that LFP would last forever or more moral and humane b/c there is no cobalt (China doesn't believe in human rights, either).
The brand new LFP batteries will degrade substantially quicker. There's not long-term retention data for LFP batteries on the market yet, but the trend tends to be substantially faster degradation. Trends show them stabilizing around that 10% degradation mark in about half the time as non-LFP batteries - around 50,000 miles instead of 100,000 miles."
I'm pretty sure that anecdotal data would almost always indicate virtually no range loss, but, once you take the red pill, the reality looks quite different.
he doesnt know but then which manufacturer will be interested to know more … seems like brand protection
Is every gas car fire reported?
Is it news because electric cars are “new” as in ten years old?
Or is it that the publisher just knows it will get a bunch of clicks from people that don’t like electric stuff?
I'm confused why you think a fire at Sydney Airport (of any cause) wouldn't be news?
You are in a way right: not strictly "«news»", but information (a piece of information) for awareness in a phase in which the general population (and even a greater set) does not have yet a full picture of relatively new technologies.
> ten years old
The term 'radioactivity' was coined by Marie Curie in 1898; use of uranium in dentistry was banned in the USA in 1984. Ten years are not much.
"Thing happened" doesn't necessarily need to be qualified.
However something to rememeber about headlines: people report on things which are noteworthy (or aligned with propaganda, but let's stick with the former).
Therefore, things happening that are reported by the news as a singular occurrence are, in reality, relatively rare.
This is why in a place like Coventry (where I am from) there is a really serious amount of crime (violence against people is third highest per capita in the UK) but stabbings never get reported in the newspaper, unless it was a young child or a mother or something else notable.
In London, where crime is significantly lower (violent crime per capita is about 50% of what it is in Coventry), stabbings are reported much more frequently in the news.
That something is reported can be a sign that it's not ubiquitous.
> violent crime per capita is about 50% of what it is in Coventry
Wood End doing most of the heavy lifting there..?
Actually statistically Wood End does not appear more violent than anywhere else: https://crimerate.co.uk/west-midlands/coventry
However... when I was a teenager the police intentionally did not go there on patrol and there was a general tone across the city amongst people of: "don't talk to the police". People would pridefully talk about not being "a grass"[0]- so, those statistics should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Nonetheless, it's obvious that violent crime (even reported) is more rampant than the average and it is rarely commented on in regional or national news. Which I infer is because it is so common and therefore not noteworthy/newsworthy.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergrass_(informant)#:~:text....