Tesla Assists in Removing Partially Destroyed Battery Pack after Fatal Crash

Megalith

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A man in California died Friday when he ran his Tesla X into a median barrier and the car caught on fire before being hit by two more cars. Being that a lithium battery was involved, which first responders may not be accustomed to dealing with, Tesla decided to send engineers to assist in its removal.

Tesla recommends using “large amounts of water” to extinguish a battery fire in its vehicles and to use a thermal imaging camera to monitor the battery for at least one hour after it is found to be completely cooled. Tesla also has firewalls inside the battery pack that can slow down the fire from spreading between the modules.
 
The "large amounts of water" is merely to prevent the remainder of the car and the surroundings from catching fire, and to provide a bit of cooling to prevent more thermal runaways. It can't put out a Li-Ion fire, as it contains its own oxidizer. The emphasis on "large amount" and not a "small amount" is to make sure more good than harm is done, a small amount will tend to cause shorts and cause more thermal runaways, if you only have a small amount of water, do nothing instead.
 
ELEGTRIC CARZ R BAD U HATE JESUS

PHALSE! I LUBBZ0R JESUS! 2 MINUTZ, 14 SECUNDZ!

Equally funny are the people who don't believe that an electric car *can* catch on fire. There is a LOT of energy stored in those things. I remember how much sweat pooled in my underwear when I accidentally blew up a 2 cf capacitor.
 
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PHALSE! I LUBBZ0R JESUS! 2 MINUTZ, 14 SECUNDZ!

Equally funny are the people who don't believe that an electric car *can* catch on fire. There is a LOT of energy stored in those things. I remember how much sweat pooled in my underwear when I accidentally blew up a 2 cf capacitor.
Sweat...sure. :)
 
PHALSE! I LUBBZ0R JESUS! 2 MINUTZ, 14 SECUNDZ!

Equally funny are the people who don't believe that an electric car *can* catch on fire. There is a LOT of energy stored in those things. I remember how much sweat pooled in my underwear when I accidentally blew up a 2 cf capacitor.
You probably needed a dose of lithium afterwards.
 
And that's why I have a 4 inch lifed Jeep JK, and double armor around the fuel tank. Well, not really the reason, but would be much better in this situation. :)
 
And when they say large amounts of water my guess would be in the excess of 1.000 gallons.
 
If anyone was curious what the battery pack looked like....





Empty battery pack so you'll can see how it is constructed.

 
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Hmmm, so what will stop an oxidize fire? Not even vacuum of space I think.
 
And when they say large amounts of water my guess would be in the excess of 1.000 gallons.

Well you know when you put say, a 2s lipo pack into a bucket of water? It would be like needing enough to put the whole car into a swimming pool.
 
Hmmm, so what will stop an oxidize fire? Not even vacuum of space I think.

Think of each cell as its own Estes rocket motor. Once it lights, it runs until the fuel is exhausted. And yes, Estes motors run just fine underwater if you light them while they are dry. The water is to keep the burning cell from lighting its neighbors.
 
Yeah because massive explosions are better than self breathing fires. And that huge amounts of energy aren't used in hydro cars, either. /s

Not hydrogen, but CNG. Which I don't think CNG is even compressed as high. Although, the picture showing the other car, the tanks seem pretty sketchy. I know Toyota's hydrogen tank can withstand bullet fire and required them to use armor piercing bullets shot in the same location for it to puncture. Although a massive car accident would be enough to puncture.

Personally, I wouldn't want to roll around in flammable gas compressed to 10,000 psi behind me.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/32955...th-fuel-killing-one-woman-and-injuring-three/
 
Brazil is really big on alternate fuels, especially ethanol, I think they are the world's largest user of fuel created from plant alcohols. But that wasn't an ethanol explosion, that looks like ... a bomb. I'm not sure how natural gas gets that much of a reaction, it isn't a bleve, and I don't see a lot of flames, either, but the explosion starts inside/under the car.
 
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I saw the wreckage on the way into work last Friday. The area that the car crashed is kind of an awkward offramp for carpool lanes. The area has 2 carpool lanes, and the left most eventually turns off into the 85, while the inner carpool lane stays south on the 101. A LOT of people drive in the left most lane, and last minute realize they need to stay on 101, so they cut back into the 101. I am guessing that is what this guy did, but a little too late as he hit the center split and seemingly crushed the pillar/metal railing all the way to the cement wall.
As for how the other 2 drivers hit him, this is the bay area man. We got the absolute worst drivers all clustered together. Then to top it off, we have the highest density of electrics who all drive like they are playing a game to conserve electricity and they are all always cutting across to the 'fast'/carpool lanes and driving extra slow, and when they need to exit, they have to cut across the freeway again causing everyone to break behind.
Ok.. to be fair, not all electric drivers are horrendous.. only about 95%.
 
-- stop watch running, waiting for first, "ELEGTRIC CARZ R BAD U HATE JESUS" post.
"JEEEEZUS would not WAAWNT yew to drive the GAY-marriage-GUN-control-COMMIE-faggit ELECTRIC CARS! JEEEEZUS wants YEW to drive the JEEEEZUS MEGA SEMI SUV 9000, and BURN them dead dineysawers to HEAVEAN!"
 
PHALSE! I LUBBZ0R JESUS! 2 MINUTZ, 14 SECUNDZ!

Equally funny are the people who don't believe that an electric car *can* catch on fire. There is a LOT of energy stored in those things. I remember how much sweat pooled in my underwear when I accidentally blew up a 2 cf capacitor.
Consider how much energy is stored in the same volume of gasoline, and how we've managed to keep it under control.
 
I know Toyota's hydrogen tank can withstand bullet fire and required them to use armor piercing bullets shot in the same location for it to puncture. Although a massive car accident would be enough to puncture.

THIS. Those Tanks are build like an airplane blackbox. The energy that's needed to break those will kill you several times over.
 
Brazil is really big on alternate fuels, especially ethanol, I think they are the world's largest user of fuel created from plant alcohols. But that wasn't an ethanol explosion, that looks like ... a bomb. I'm not sure how natural gas gets that much of a reaction, it isn't a bleve, and I don't see a lot of flames, either, but the explosion starts inside/under the car.

Think that explosion was from them over pressurizing the tank during fill up. It eventually just gave up and exploded.
 
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