... salt water intrusion issue ~

you mean like a prius?

 

Elon has joked that the Cybertruck could float across the "Brazoz Santiago Pass" instead of driving 20 miles.


Bob Wilson

 

My garage is hundreds of feet above sea level. If it gets hit with salt water intrusion, car and house fires will be among the last of my concerns.

I do see many patches of burned pavement along our highways, obviously from vehicles that burned, often with some vehicle debris still on the scene. Vastly more than can be explained by all EV fires. Must be from those fossil fuel vehicle fires that happen about once every 2 or 3 minutes.

 

Asheville altitude sits at 2,200 feet above sea level.
Just sayin....

As always, severe weather is a very Darwinian thing.
Some people are smart enough to protect their solar panels from wind and rain, and use their BEVs as a 'spit can' for surplus amps that can be used in a post-disaster environment.
Others do not - OR are not fully informed about their local topography and hydrology - or tornadoes.

The great philosopher Michael Gerard Tyson once said:
"...everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."

In Communications, we have a failure plan, which we call PACE:

Primary.
Alternate.
Contingency.
Emergency.

Fail to plan...plan to fail.

 

It should take a Chicxulub-class asteroid to push salt water that high. If the tsunami reaches Asheville -- or my house, inland from the opposite coast and near the top of a broad hill -- it is very unlikely anyone will see any evidence of where the house used to be. If anyone is even left to search.

The pictured EV fire was in Pinellas County, FL, average elevation less than some of Helene's forecast storm surges. Much easier to get salt water intrusion gentle enough to allow security cameras to record some of it.

There are plenty of places out here to suffer fresh water intrusion. But by the time it gets up to my garage, none of the survivors will care about property here. Local FEMA will already be wiped out, my house is higher than their offices and equipment storage yards.

That said, there are other weather and geologic and technical and civil difficulties for me to be prepare for, and numerous local government agencies promoting 72 hour and 14+ day emergency preparedness and self-sufficiency without utilities or transportation or numerous government services ...

 

Chicxulub! What a day/year/millennium that was. Modeled tsunami wave topped out at about 1800 meters. Quite a lot of land surface was wiped but other consequences were longer lasting.

Water overran Panama lowlands and wiped Pacific coastal areas as well. I guess any event energetic to push that much seawater around will have many bad consequences

==
Back to scheduled discussion of EV risks. It could be broadened the electricity in general, as salt water does not like. Stop using all forms of electricity on this salt-water planet. Safety first

 

Source: Cumbre Vieja tsunami hazard - Wikipedia.

The island of La Palma in the Canary Islands is at risk of undergoing a large landslide, which could cause a tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean. Volcanic islands and volcanoes on land frequently undergo large landslides/collapses, which have been documented in Hawaii for example.​

Bob Wilson

 

I think they mean many EVs have the battery exposed on the bottom of the vehicle.

The Prius traction battery is within the passenger compartment so it should be relatively safe unless water gets ins1de the car. Even then, the battery is not at the lowest point of the car interior soit should be safe from minor water intrusion.

 

And if that is salt water, the salt, even after it has dried, can continue to corrode the battery.

 

The Munro Cybertruck review revealed there is a positive air pressure source to the water tight, battery compartment. It is an offshoot of the adjustable height suspension built-in to every Cybertruck. External salt either in water or dried has no access against the filtered, air pressure.

Bob Wilson

 

EVs are likely safe from minor water intrusion too. We only see these stories of EV fires after major flood events, and EVs are more of a threat and political topic to some groups than hybrids had been.

The gen5 Prime and Rav4 Prime have the battery mounted low outside the cabin. There is also the NiMH used in past Toyota hybrids being less fire prone when the car is flooded.

And the 12V connections. The electrical system in ICE cars is a major source for fires.

 

So how many EVs burst into flames in areas where road salt is used?

Bob Wilson

 

I do not find statistical analyses of vehicle immersions in salt water leading to fire. The only initiator in petrol vehicle is 12 V battery. if that happens to be close to fuel tank, it might boom I guess. Immerse an EV and its high-energy battery might boom. Somebody ought to look at that with a few old EV batteries. Maybe wnd, zerohedge, etc. could spend a few thousands $ and make exciting videos.

Casual external salt exposure whispers 'meh' to me. Too many physical barriers.

Back on earth, car fires per unit are low in EVs, middle in petrol, and highest in hybrids (oops!):

Car Fire Statistics – Updated September 2024 | Honest John

In a few countries including Norway, EVs already outnumber petrols, so clearer patterns ought to emerge.

Presuming a global migration from petrol to hybrid to full-electric vehicles, fires might increase (hybrid bump) and later decline in EV world. But that relies much on N=low current statistics for non petrols, and ignores any pressure on manufacturers of E-favoring vehicles to fireproof them. In that sense, wacky wnd etc. imaginations might be a force for good.

==

I survived a petrol-vehicle crash that ended with a boom. As a personal experience, it was way more than movies could ever show. Any y'all had similar? Driving around with 1000 megaJoules of chemical energy onboard, eager for oxygen and high T, is a thing that 100s millions of drivers do daily with remarkable complacency. I must say that it seems weird.

 

Depends on the vehicle, I suppose.
I've found it to be a significant hazard to some of them.....

 

I'm often perplexed that so many people don't give motor vehicle risk anywhere near its due concern, compared to other similar and lower risks.

 

I'd love to see people more often sit down and try to plot a risk they are concerned about on a drawing like this, but it doesn't seem to be something a lot of people do.



That particular drawing is comparing (mostly) risks of various things done by a person for a year, so plotting a point for vehicle fires would have to involve looking up fires per vehicle·mile driven and then average vehicle·miles driven by a person in a year.

 

My one experience with a 12 V battery cable getting hot enough to 'smoke', it was next to the fuel line and fuel pump. I got the ground cable off quickly enough. After every thing cooled down, we drove home.

Air cooled ones are "toast" (aka. Prius, Leaf.) Liquid cooled batteries are better sealed with valves designed to equalize pressure but otherwise block liquids.

Bob Wilson

 

Risk matrix - Wikipedia
We used these in the military in my last days and they also have currency in modern cooperate boardrooms.

I will leave it to the people in the studio audience to divine the 'risk' for themselves....

Me?
I drove to work today, so clearly.....I 'did the math.'
I could have walked (17-20 minutes according to the Googles) but Americans don't even walk to their mailboxes.

TIFWIW.....

At one atmosphere.....
It's been my experience that liquid is pretty persistent....even at 1 AU.
HOWEVER (comma!) batteries are still better than petrol in some areas.
Worse than others.
No doubt about it.
Ever try to mail a gallon of petrol?
ANYWHERE?
Ever try to carry a gallon of amps in a plastic jug?

 

They float. Not forever but neither does a storm surge. <GRINS>


Bob Wilson