Tesla has an eight year and unlimited distance on their batteries; I would think in the future that will increase.
I read about someone who drive over 100k and battery range had decreased by about 3%, so they have thought ahead and designed the car accordingly
You call that a battery? This is a battery:
But its range and passenger capacity is extremely poor for the purposes of transportation
Those are the one’s that are supposed to go BOOM! 
Already under discussion is the secondary market for used batteries, much as we reuse laptop and power pack pull only for aftermarket power wall use where capacity is less of an issue.
That’s going to be awesome. And I read that recycling can claim back virtually all the lithium. nice.
I agree this will be a big benefit when we better utilize the full potential of lithium batteries from manufacture to recycle.
> aftermarket power wall use
Once they figure out how to keep them from exploding.
For sure, next time.
Absolutely, positively, not boom.
Meanwhile, there’s room for improvement in fire fighting protection suits …
I posted today a video of the new Samsung Note 7 battery shown to catch fire with with small punctures made to the battery. There needs to better training and products available for extinguishing lithium battery firers.
We haven’t been able to prevent planes, cars, ships, trucks, gas furnaces, or water heaters from exploding either.
SCBA: (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus)
Now your quote has switched from explosions to fires. And water? Never try to put a gasoline fire out with water, it will spread! I’m telling you man, that gasoline is some scary shit. Even the fumes can kill. But that never makes the daily news.
+1, whenever we’ve concentrated energy sooner or later it’s got loose, Texas City, Port Chicago, 3 mi island, again in West Texas, Exxon Valdez, the BP spill, carbeques beyond count, oil rig and tanker fires, etc. Liion might be somewhat cleaner but it like anything else it has its dangers and will cause mayhem at some point.
Yes but Tesla is expensive compared to the car cited by the earlier poster. Most cars have a limited mileage per year for a fixed number of years. Tesla though do seem to be making huge strides in making them practical. Selling them as high performance cars is clever, since they are expensive anyway.
Perhaps best not to buy one of the Chinese brands then, Uranusfire might be more of a prediction than a brand name.
This article from July. 2016 MIT is pretty good news. No air is exchanged in the charge/discharge cycle so the cell doesn’t swell which ages the materials and reduces cycle life, and charges only .24V above cell potential instead of 1.2V and with 1/5 the power loss during recharge there is much less heating allowing for faster charge cycles.
EV fires need to be suppressed with knowledge and not traditional methods like water.
Even first responder’s to EV accidents are reluctant to use ‘Jaws of Life’ until all electrical power is shut off.
These are problems to be solved and not reasons to turn away from EV.
Amen to that. Anticipating problems with new tech saves lives, and we don’t have a surplus of firefighters as it is.
I recall a guy who started a wildfire.
He drove his nice sniny new catalytic-converter-equipped truck into high grass.
The grass caught fire.
So, aha, he had a fire extinguisher.
He grabbed that, leaned over, pointed it under the truck, and triggered it.
He blew flaming grass out the other side into the field, where it spread rapidly.
California where I live is going to be an interesting test case for fire management, with all the EVs on the road and coming soon.
I’m not real sure what kind of fire extinguisher(s) I ought to be adding to my car equipment.
I always carry some firefighting equipment.
Because California where I live also has a surprising number of people who throw burning cigarette butts out their windows.
I’ve beaten down a few fires on the freeway margin, thanks to those guys — shovel and flail, not fire extinguisher.
See “dry grass” above.
My nephew is a Hot Shot crew member for the U.S. Forest Service and he has been quite busy in the west. 