Elon Musk has previously stated only 0.01% of Teslas have ever caught fire.

[topfuelman]

Wife sent this article to me from yesterday.........Can't wait to buy a new BEV! (NOT). 6000 gallons of water to put out the "spontaneous combustion" car! No injuries, thank God!


Link: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/nati...t-out/3143228/

[chevyrules]

Looks like the 12V battery is the battery that caught fire given only the front end is gone. If it was the HV battery, a lot more would be fire damaged…..

Given ICE cars have 12V batteries you going to go back to horse and carriage?

That is all I’m going to say on this thread and I bet it will quickly spiral down the same path every EV thread does. And I consider that sad that we can’t civilly talk about another form of propulsion.

[EAST COAST Z51]

Brand new fleet of Electric busses in CT have been taken out of service due to burning for no reason. Glad nobody was on board!

[Plentyfast]

There was once a time I could go a month without seeing a Tesla, now there isn't a day on the road that I don't see them all over the place.

... and the only place I've ever seen a Tesla or any other EV on fire is on the internet.

[Meldoon]

Facts……..here goes…….


EV Fires: Not coming to a garage near you, statistically speaking


https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinio...ally-speaking/

[John]

That is a very interesting article Meldoon. Learned a lot reading it.

[chevyrules]

Some people don’t care much about facts……..but here goes…….


EV Fires: Not coming to a garage near you, statistically speaking


https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinio...ally-speaking/

People only believe with what they see with their eyes. Combine that with their predisposition on a certain polarizing subject such as EV's( EV's shouldn't be polarizing, but that's another off topic/against rules subject) and a for profit entity knows it is polarizing, that is all they will throw at the TV screen, they double down since what they see with their eyes reaffirms their beliefs.

Back to no longer posting in this thread.......

[Foosh]

Interesting article.

I could be wrong, but isn't it the case that virtually all ICE vehicle fires occur when the engine is running? My concern would be a BEV or PHEV fire spontaneously erupting in the middle of the night in my attached garage with the vehicle charging and my family sleeping. I don't worry about an ICE vehicle spontaneously combusting after cooled down and sitting inactive in my garage.

12V lead acid batteries in current ICE vehicles don't have the same concerns as lithium.

[Plentyfast]

I personally know several people who have owned Tesla's for several years ... with my Brother-in-law owning an Model S and X garaged since 2016.

Not a single Garage or any other Fire among any of them. I would also be concerned about an spontaneous combustions, but at one point, as long as you've done everything you can, what else can you do but trust the vehicle or not get one.

[Foosh]

Yes, but I would worry far less about losing one car than losing our house, other vehicles, and possibly our lives in a night-time fire.

A few datapoints don't tell you much. We all know they are low probability events.

[chevyrules]

12V lead acid batteries in current ICE vehicles don't have the same concerns as lithium.

No, but it is the 12V battery that caught fire in this Tesla's case.

What we don't know is the model year. Newer S's do have lithium-ion 12V batteries. Older S's have lead-acid.

We don't know if this owner if an older S added a third-party lithium-ion battery which adds another complication because the car is not programmed for a Lithium ion 12V battery and the third party battery needs its own BMS to act as a go between in handling power from the car.

Too much unknowns.

[topfuelman]

It doesn't take 6000 gallons of water (per article) to put out a 12v lead acid battery fire! Yep, going back to the "Stone Age", and proud of it.

[chevyrules]

It doesn't take 6000 gallons of water (per article) to put out a 12v lead acid battery fire! Yep, going back to the "Stone Age", and proud of it.

Given that fact, I do lean towards this being a newer S that does contain a 12V Lithium Ion battery.

An older S that came stock with a lead acid battery, but owner replaced with an Ohmmu lithium-ion 12V battery is still a possibility. Not throwing shade at Ohmmu, but it is still another failure point added since the car is programmed to charge a lead acid.

But even ICE vehicles are starting to get lithium ion 12V batteries like the new E Ray because they are lighter than lead acids. There are also lithium-ion 12V batteries too from third-party companies for ICE vehicles as well.

[meyerweb]

Looks like the 12V battery is the battery that caught fire given only the front end is gone. If it was the HV battery, a lot more would be fire damaged…..

Given ICE cars have 12V batteries you going to go back to horse and carriage?

That is all I’m going to say on this thread and I bet it will quickly spiral down the same path every EV thread does. And I consider that sad that we can’t civilly talk about another form of propulsion.

I can't imagine a12 volt lead acid battery generating enough heat to do that much damage. Nor would it have "continued to combust" while the FD flooded it with water. Is the 12V in a Tesla LI, or is it a lead acid? If it's also LI, almost no ICE cars have those. A few have lithium iron or lithium polymer, neither of which have the same fire risk as LI batteries.

Just by and by, a member of one of the local Corvette clubs had his C8 burn to the ground. Apparently something was misrouted, wore through, and caused the blaze. Destroyed the car totally. For those curious, the dealer and GM both bumped his new order up near the front of the queue.

[chevyrules]

I can't imagine a12 volt lead acid battery generating enough heat to do that much damage. Nor would it have "continued to combust" while the FD flooded it with water. Is the 12V in a Tesla LI, or is it a lead acid? If it's also LI, almost no ICE cars have those. A few have lithium iron or lithium polymer, neither of which have the same fire risk as LI batteries.

Newer S's ( since the introduction of the Plaid) do have Lithium 12V batteries.

Older S's have lead acid. There are companies like Ohmmu that make lithium 12V retrofits that have their own BMS to handle the fact the car does not know it is a lithium battery.

As stated, I do agree and lean towards this S having a 12V lithium battery. We don't know if it was a stock one or Ohmmu. Failure point if Ohmmu could be their BMS failed( hardware failure or Tesla update created an incapability).

EDIT: Looked up the composition of the batteries. Looks like Ohmmu uses Lithium Iron. Tesla OEM is a Lithium-Ion. Given the chances of fire between the two chemistries, I lean towards OEM 12V Li-Ion battery.