I’m referring to a fact of the news: this;
the car slips into the water, it was a hybrid, but the batteries caught fire anyway. I wonder: Since the batteries are usually under the car bed, how much water height can a hybrid or all-electric car exceed?
Was I convinced that the batteries were in a waterproof compartment, or does it depend on the car brand?
Quoting from the article:
“The car was later pictured submerged beneath the water, with the boat floating just above.
While being pulled from the water at around 6pm, the car, which was a hybrid and electric, caught fire. ”
It sounds like the car didn’t catch fire on contact with water, or even after being submerged in water for some time, which seems pretty good to me.
Maybe it was something to do with the car being towed, or as no explosions were reported maybe it wasn’t the batteries themselves at all, maybe they were even still powering whatever caught fire.
Details matter.
Like the fact that the guy threw himself under the car. Forced to dive out of the way my a*se, frickin HATE that kind of ‘journalism’.
The CELLS are sealed. The pack is shielded from road spray and the like. The whole pack is not waterproof. It would be impossible to do that. They are large to huge depending on the vehicle, with lots of wires and components.
Saltwater is a fine conductor. It would short EVERYTHING it got into, which would have been all the electrics with that level of submersion. The high voltage of the pack would start IMMEDIATE corrosion at a significant level on everything. It’s not surprising that something finally gave way. Once a lithium pack lets go it can get ugly. OTOH, so can a gasoline fire.
FWIW, I scuba dive. I take lights and cameras underwater powered by (small) Li-on cells. Should one of those products flood it makes a hell of a mess in pretty short order. Never had a fire but these are tiny and low voltage by comparison.
Looks like a Lexus right? Idk foreign car makes/models…
Was expecting a Fisker lol.