Beware Of Parking Next To A Tesla...Especially If You Drive An Audi!

Well, I suppose a driver of any vehicle should be leery, when parking alongside a Tesla, especially after watching this clip released yesterday from China:



This certainly isn't the first time that Tesla has been in the news, regarding the safety of their lithium-ion battery packs. Not to worry though, because Musk stated in 2013:

a gasoline tank has 10 times more combustion energy than our battery pack. Moreover, the Model S battery pack also has internal firewalls between the 16 modules and a firewall between the battery pack and passenger compartment.

I don't think those "firewalls" are keeping flames away from pedestrians or garages:

a reply to: shawmanfromny

Gasoline engine's can and do catch fire while parked due to faultiy/broken wiring too.

So by your logic never park next to any other vehicle.

we had a whole fleet of diesel trucks go up in smoke a few months ago overnight.
Running guess is that one of the block heaters (it was cold) went bad and started the fire.

Never own a vehicle you're not willing to lose.

originally posted by: Isurrender73
a reply to: shawmanfromny

Gasoline engine's can and do catch fire while parked due to faultiy/broken wiring too.

So by your logic never park next to any other vehicle.

Stop pointing out facts.... you are ruining the narrative.

With that said, lithium fires are no joke and the batteries are far less stable than gasoline when ruptured.

a reply to: Isurrender73

My "logic" is to show that this particular car brand has been in the news a lot due to overstated safety claims, which is why these incidents are on the news. I'm not the first person to bring this point up either:

Tesla uses ‘dangerous batteries’, whistle-blower says as Elon Musk derides him as ‘horrible’ A fired Tesla technician whom Musk called a ‘horrible human being’ tells a US agency the carmaker has used dangerous batteries

www.scmp.com...

Electric vehicles mean first responders have to deal with battery fires Electric vehicle batteries can reignite even after the fire is put out

www.theverge.com...

The dangers of Tesla's overstated safety claims

mashable.com...

Why the Fire that Incinerated a Tesla Was Such a Nightmare to Put Out

www.livescience.com...

a reply to: shawmanfromny

Bezos is that you....?

I had an old Chevy truck once, some wire insolation got frayed right at the starter. Luckily I noticed the smoke as I walked passed it to go into my apartment, and luckily I had a bottle of water in the bed of the truck.

So never park next to Chevy trucks guys.

Ford Pinto for 100 Alex.

Batteries containing that much energy are extremely volatile.
Much more dangerous than gasoline.

Ford should buy out Tesla...and then open charging stations at every dealership. While waiting...customers could browse the showrooms...purchase swag...or have their groceries delivered. Hell...fire a salesman and open a barbershop.

They could instsall a large wind turbine where practical and go 100 percent green.

Or Wally world could team up with Tesla.....

If things only worked on earth as well as they do in space... Elon... how's "space"?

a reply to: Bluntone22

Only when they get wet. Or you feed them after midnight.

a reply to: lakenheath24

Try salt water

a reply to: Edumakated

And...once gasoline is lowered to the point below ignition it will not reignite without an ignition source.

The same cannot be said for a lithium ion battery because it is it's own ignition source, and has more than enough potential energy to reignite a fire...which is clearly visible in the 3rd video the OP posted. In that case the car caught back on fire twice requiring over an hour and forty minutes of continuous water to extinguish.

Imagine if a Tesla plant, or a lithium ion battery plant caught on fire...there's probably not enough water in CA to put it out!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: Edumakated

And...once gasoline is lowered to the point below ignition it will not reignite without an ignition source.

The same cannot be said for a lithium ion battery because it is it's own ignition source, and has more than enough potential energy to reignite a fire...which is clearly visible in the 3rd video the OP posted. In that case the car caught back on fire twice requiring over an hour and forty minutes of continuous water to extinguish.

Imagine if a Tesla plant, or a lithium ion battery plant caught on fire...there's probably not enough water in CA to put it out!

The big problem is that you cannot put it out with water... you need sand or fire extinguisher.

The fire hazards are over rated though. It is clearly an issue, but I don't see it as any more of a risk than gas by in large.

I know from first hand experience how volatile those cells can be. I competitively race off road RC cars. I was at the forefront of converting nitro powered 1/8th scale cars to electric using LiPo batteries. In addition, the 10th scales cars switched over to LiPo from NIMH batteries about 15 years ago. Same batteries used in Teslas...

The big risk with these cells is punctures. You puncture a cell, it will cause the chain reaction fire. When charging batteries at RC tracks, you have to use special fireproof bags or old ammo containers. It isn't as bad as it was say 10 years ago, but it seemed like there were always one or two cars that went "nuclear" at race for some reason or another. The manufacturers have figured out how to make them more stable along with the electronic control systems, so fires aren't that common anymore.

There is another story here that's not getting any attention. Lobbyist groups.

Does any one else find it ironic that while most companies are now switching over to electric vehicles or electric hy-bred vehicles, that oil lobbyist groups are spending time and money going after Tesla (the face of fully electric vehicles)? I'm not calling out big oil, they have been dumping money into battery research and plastics, as well as pushing for hydrogen power sources since those are cheaper and more profitable products that can be had from oil. The lobbyist firms on the other hand are losing out since even Exxon is wanting to get into the alt-power industry. Now these lobbyist groups have to do something to stay in business. You don't see Nissan Leafs getting hit on the news, what about the BMW i3, or the other fully electric vehicles out there? Nope just Teslas. Leafs and even a few i3s have had issues that created fires, but we don't hear about them due to a lack of appearance in the face of the public.

These stories are just that, stories put out there by a group of lobbyists that are worried that their bread and butter is running out, and are too insecure to find another nitch in the market place for their services.

a reply to: shawmanfromny

You shorting bro?

a reply to: shawmanfromny

Car fires are not new nor only in Teslas.

Tesla should sell them cheaper with batteries not included to avoid liability issues.

Batteries must be purchased separately from 3rd party manufacturers and professionally installed by certified independent experts.

If it explodes or burns can't blame Tesla!

originally posted by: ausername
Tesla should sell them cheaper with batteries not included to avoid liability issues.

Batteries must be purchased separately from 3rd party manufacturers and professionally installed by certified independent experts.

If it explodes or burns can't blame Tesla!

Im sure they will fly off the lots when the company selling them is too scared to endorse the batteries. *eyeroll*

I've been working in automotive for decades and can tell you fires can and do start on gasoline vehicles as well.

But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all i'f the OP is shorting the stock.

It's obviously silly to be worried about parking next to an electric vehicle because the chances of it exploding are so low, however I don't think it's right to say the chances of this happening with combustion engines is the same, because it's clearly much less likely to happen. You need some sort of flame to ignore to fuel, which almost never happens if the fuel tank is properly enclosed. An electric battery on the other hand can spontaneously explode at pretty much any time if there is some sort of chemical reaction which gets out of control in the battery. I haven't heard of anyone being inside a Tesla when the battery exploded so it's probably not something to worry about, but pointing out the fact this can occur doesn't automatically imply it's some attempt to damage the Tesla brand.