EV opposition in the media is ramping up

[tsedge]

Took a quick look and first comment is "I am surprised EVs are legal. So dangerous!", so I watched no further.

 

[gwig66]

What nonsense.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Took a quick look and first comment is "I am surprised EVs are legal. So dangerous!", so I watched no further.

Thanks for the synopsis, it saves me having to endure it.

 

[Archev]

Thanks for the synopsis, it saves me having to endure it.

Is there to be an amnesty during which we criminals can hand in our evs and the power companies and charger companies can be made to return our lands to proper coal and oil fired electric power production ?

 

[Rolfe]

I'd like to get a less biassed view of what actually happened in these incidents. After all, I don't think anyone is saying that EV fires NEVER happen.

 

[siteguru]

I watched some of that video ... the report he read out says a lot of info, but crucially doesn't say what vehicle it was that caught fire.

 

[Rolfe]

Here's the original article. It doesn't mention the make or model of the car and there are no pictures, but everyone seems to agree it was an EV of some sort.

Family narrowly escapes after electric vehicle explodes on their village driveway - Northants Life | News | Events | Advertise | Northampton Magazine

A Northamptonshire family were forced to grab their newborn puppies and flee from their home when their electric car exploded without warning – several hours after parking up outside their village home. Georgina Bayliss, 49, and her husband Scott, 47, were getting ready for an early night when...

www.northantslife.co.uk

The account is of a loud explosion followed within seconds by 20-feet-high flames coming from the car. The car was merely parked on the driveway and had been for many hours. This doesn't accord with anything I know about EV fires and I really want to know what the hell actually happened.

ETA: I can't find any other report of this rather alarming incident at all. Something smells a bit funny.

His second point is a "friend of a friend" telling him that his home insurance premium had gone up "quite significantly" as a result of having an EV parked on his front drive. I don't believe him. My premium hasn't changed at all, and my home and car insurance are with the same company. So who is actually lying here? Him or his informant? Does the "friend of a friend" even exist?

His third point is a Korean report that suggests that EVs go on fire at a slightly higher rate compared to ICE cars. Is there something strange going on in Korea? I note, though, that the article he cites referring to this report seems to be an anti-EV publication.

His fourth point concerns a fire in a Vauxhall Corsa in Aberdeen. The car is pictured in an on-street parking bay (not a driveway) with flames coming from underneath. The shots with the fire crew show the car not badly damaged as the fire is extinguished.

Man shocked as electric car suddenly bursts into flames in driveway

Fire crews were called to Auchmill Terrace in Aberdeen on Sunday after the Vauxhall Corsa burst into flames.

news.stv.tv

WATCH: Dramatic moment firefighters battle car blaze that shut down Bucksburn street

The area was cordoned off after a Vauxhall Corsa Electric went up in flames.

www.pressandjournal.co.uk

Although there are flames under the car and the report says "Images of the aftermath show ... what appears to be the battery completely melted," the actual image shows the area under the bonnet, not the battery, and it looks as if the cause has been a 12v electrical fault. I'm not at all convinced the HV battery of this car was involved in the fire.

I'm pretty sure that isn't the traction battery in that photo.

ETA again: Could that possibly be the small battery of some sort of hybrid? I don't know enough to comment. The article just says "Vauxhall Corsa electric" but if it was a hybrid then we know hybrids are prone to fires.

His final fire story is from China and involves a bunch of electric buses in a depot on fire. He correctly notes that this looks very much like arson, but goes on about the dangerous fires and the risk to life, like this would have been any less so if they had been diesel buses.

So, one fire story that sounds very implausible and isn't corroborated and I don't know what the hell that is all about, one that clearly did happen but may well not have been an HV battery fire, and a case of arson on the other side of the world. Plus scaremongering about home insurance and a piece on whether salary sacrifice schemes are unfair and should be stopped.

I'd love to know more about that Northamptonshire incident, I really would.

 

[Archev]

Here's the original article. It doesn't mention the make or model of the car and there are no pictures, but everyone seems to agree it was an EV of some sort.

Family narrowly escapes after electric vehicle explodes on their village driveway - Northants Life | News | Events | Advertise | Northampton Magazine

A Northamptonshire family were forced to grab their newborn puppies and flee from their home when their electric car exploded without warning – several hours after parking up outside their village home. Georgina Bayliss, 49, and her husband Scott, 47, were getting ready for an early night when...

www.northantslife.co.uk

The account is of a loud explosion followed within seconds by 20-feet-high flames coming from the car. The car was merely parked on the driveway and had been for many hours. This doesn't accord with anything I know about EV fires and I really want to know what the hell actually happened.

Was it an actual electric fire as there’s something about fire fighting between 3:30 and 4:10 somewhere which seemed a bit quick - unless I miss-heard the narrative in my by then bored state.

 

[Rolfe]

Was it an actual electric fire as there’s something about fire fighting between 3:30 and 4:10 somewhere which seemed a bit quick - unless I miss-heard the narrative in my by then bored state.

Are we looking at the same thing? The only video I see is only 19 seconds long, and only the first four seconds of that shows the car (smouldering rather than burning and by no means burned out). I'm interested to know if that Aberdeen one was a hybrid rather than an EV, and I'm interested to know if the one in Northamptonshire happened at all.

 

[Archev]

Are we looking at the same thing? The only video I see is only 19 seconds long, and only the first four seconds of that shows the car (smouldering rather than burning and by no means burned out). I'm interested to know if that Aberdeen one was a hybrid rather than an EV, and I'm interested to know if the one in Northamptonshire happened at all.

I put the Aberdeen car’s numbers plate in a tyre ordering advert and it came up as a full electric Vauxhall Corsa.
The original video I watched mentions the 3:30 to 4:10 time to extinguish I’m sure.
Northamptonshire I don’t know - definitely sounds fishy.

 

[Rolfe]

Good thinking Batman. So what are the burned components that can be seen under the open bonnet? That charred box thing under the bonnet has high-tension leads coming out of it but I don't think it can possibly be the car's HV battery. It looks like the seat of the fire, and yet the earlier photo shows flames coming out from under the car. I have a feeling that whatever happened to that car didn't involve the HV battery burning. (I still don't understand what you mean by "the 3:30 to 4:10 time to extinguish".)

That story does seem genuine, I just don't think it was as dramatic an incident as the reports are trying to make it out to be. Standard-issue car fire due to an electrical fault, but without the gallons of burning petrol or diesel that make ICE fires so popular at this time of year (bonfire night approaching). Or that's what I think anyway.

The Northamptonshire thing is weird. A loud explosion heard by many people who ran to see what was happening, followed almost immediately by flames 20 feet high. And only this single newspaper has reported it, and there are no photographs at all. Something is not right about this.

 

[Archev]

Good thinking Batman. So what are the burned components that can be seen under the open bonnet? That charred box thing under the bonnet has high-tension leads coming out of it but I don't think it can possibly be the car's HV battery. It looks like the seat of the fire, and yet the earlier photo shows flames coming out from under the car. I have a feeling that whatever happened to that car didn't involve the HV battery burning. (I still don't understand what you mean by "the 3:30 to 4:10 time to extinguish".)

That story does seem genuine, I just don't think it was as dramatic an incident as the reports are trying to make it out to be. Standard-issue car fire due to an electrical fault, but without the gallons of burning petrol or diesel that make ICE fires so popular at this time of year (bonfire night approaching). Or that's what I think anyway.

The Northamptonshire thing is weird. A loud explosion heard by many people who ran to see what was happening, followed almost immediately by flames 20 feet high. And only this single newspaper has reported it, and there are no photographs at all. Something is not right about this.

I’m fairly sure the Stelantis cars (Vauxhall etc) are all built on the same “skateboard” basic chassis and therefore all have the traction battery under the floor ala MGs etc.
The charred bits under the bonnet look like the control gubbins to me - the rear of the 12 volt battery’s a bit melted looking - the stuff to the left of it with the orange cables is obviously the high power leads to / from the traction battery and motor etc.

 

[Rolfe]

Looks to me as if the fire has started under the bonnet, fairly centrally, just in front of the windscreen. Maybe in that box-like thing with the HT leads coming out of it. In which case I'd be very surprised if the traction battery was involved at all. But if so, what was going on with the flames coming from under the car in the other photo?

 

[Archev]

Looks to me as if the fire has started under the bonnet, fairly centrally, just in front of the windscreen. Maybe in that box-like thing with the HT leads coming out of it. In which case I'd be very surprised if the traction battery was involved at all. But if so, what was going on with the flames coming from under the car in the other photo?

That’s where the traction battery is though so it’s possible.

 

[Rolfe]

Under the car, you mean? Yes. But since all the evidence is that the fire started under the bonnet I think it's unlikely that the traction battery would have caught fire. I was wondering if something else might have caused these flames that can be seen.

I don't see anything about how quickly the fire was put out, but the police didn't think it was worthwhile attending and the general tenor of the report suggests it was out pretty quickly. Doesn't seem compatible with the battery burning.

 

[White Walker]

That wasn't a news article, that was straight anti EV propaganda. smh

 

[Rolfe]

Are you talking about the video (which was barefaced anti-EV propaganda) or the newspaper report?

 

[Archev]

Are we looking at the same thing? The only video I see is only 19 seconds long, and only the first four seconds of that shows the car (smouldering rather than burning and by no means burned out). I'm interested to know if that Aberdeen one was a hybrid rather than an EV, and I'm interested to know if the one in Northamptonshire happened at all.

Sorry i thought i heard that the fire was extinguished between 3:30 pm and 4:10 pm

 

[Rolfe]

I didn't see that. The video of the incident only shows a couple of seconds of the car smouldering then a few more seconds of the fire crew doing something indeterminate. It would indeed be interesting to know how long it took to put the fire out.

 

[GaryMG4]

Under the bonnet, perhaps a heater fault the PTC heater is powered from the HV side.