My local bus company in Painesville OH just acquired 2 battery buses.A local industry has also acquired a battery powered switcher. Also there are like 30 IM trains a day with Lithium Batterys being a possible cargo. Lithium when it ignites gets hotter then the surface of the sun and water makes the fire worse as water is a catalyst for Lithium. Have not seen yet problems with the new electric bikes but the idea of having a fire bomb between my legs does not sit well with me
There's been instances of electric cars catching fire and the local fire departments not being able to put the fire out, all they can do is contain it and make sure it doesn't spread to any surroundings. It's not happening all over, but it is happening.
As I hear it lithium-ion battery technology isn't 100% understood.
I don't believe electric cars are the panacea some would believe they are, but that's another story.
ronrunner Lithium when it ignites...
Lithium when it ignites...
https://bikehike.org/why-do-lithium-batteries-catch-fire/
3632 F, according to the above.
...gets hotter then the surface of the sun...
https://skynomy.com/what-is-the-approximate-surface-temperature-of-the-sun/#:~:text=The%20approximate%20surface%20temperature%20of%20the%20Sun%20is,why%20there%20is%20sustainable%20life%20on%20our%20planet.
5850 F, according to the above.
Nope. Not hotter than the surface of the sun.
But certainly warmish.
Ed
Lithium batteries are like welded rail - it is in commercial production and use - it has not been MASTERED.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Combustible metal fires in vehicles have been an issue ever since substantial amounts of magnesium started to be used in auto parts. Try putting THAT out with water and see what happens......
I'll bet some people had issues trying to fight gasoline or oil fires with water when those fuels first started to become common.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Firefighters learned how to deal with gasolene and oil fires pretty quickly, chemical fire extinguishing systems go back as far as the turn of the 20th Century.
The trouble with lithium car battery fires is nothing in the firefighter's arsenal works on them, at least not at the moment.
Look at the bright side...they provide a lot of heat!
Yeah true on that just ask the city of Morris Illinois how much heat those freaking things can produce. Hot enough to literally turn steel into pools of molten metal and sand into glass. Yes they found glass in the debris of that fire from the sand they literally had dumped onto it to try to put it out.
ronrunner My local bus company in Painesville OH just acquired 2 battery buses.A local industry has also acquired a battery powered switcher. Also there are like 30 IM trains a day with Lithium Batterys being a possible cargo. Lithium when it ignites gets hotter then the surface of the sun and water makes the fire worse as water is a catalyst for Lithium. Have not seen yet problems with the new electric bikes but the idea of having a fire bomb between my legs does not sit well with me
Alcohol also burns with a nearly invisible flame.
charlie hebdoAlcohol also burns with a nearly invisible flame.
On a similar note, sulphur burns with a light blue flame that is practically invisible in sunlight. While you probably won't encounter it in automobiles we've had a few fires at bulk sulphur loadouts over the years, or in the railcars.
It melts and starts dripping or flowing around from the heat of the fire, and its fumes are highly toxic.
From last year when the load of Tesla's went up in flame, It seems like there was another autorack fire somewhere else within a few months.
Union Pacific rail yard in North Platte site of large fire (wowt.com)
Jeff
Let's all not remind the OP what the C in ICE means. Might never drive another vehicle ever again. Lithium batteries can be dangerous when not handled properly. Regular cars burst into flames every day too. Wooly Mammoths used to gore humans. Seems rather odd to be afraid of this new technology as if you aren't surrounded by things that can do equal damage to you. I mean, I live in Northern California, Everywhere around me is burning to the ground from lightening strikes and broken power lines. Lithium fires aren't going to make it worse.
Yoho California doesn't have the power required to replace all the internal combustion engines just in that state alone. To do that is going to require doubling the power grid supply at minimum to handle the load to recharge the electric cars. Yet pg&e can't keep the freaking lights on in the state already.
YoHo1975 Regular cars burst into flames every day too. Wooly Mammoths used to gore humans. Seems rather odd to be afraid of this new technology as if you aren't surrounded by things that can do equal damage to you.
Yes, regular cars can burst into flames but the causes are typically apparant and understandable, say an accident or shoddy maintanance. Woolly mammoths were dealt with by a team effort of the tribe, just as butchering the corpse was after the matter was concluded. (Must have made one hell of a barbeque!)
Fear of the new technology? Probably driven more by the "If it bleeds, it leads!" mentality of the press. Electric cars aren't bursting into flame all over but the scare headlines don't help matters. Lithium fires ARE frightening because they can't be dealt with, at least not yet. Solutions will be found.
Remember. people fear what they don't understand, always have and always will.
Forest fires are out of the scope of the discussion. Another matter entirely.
Flintlock76 YoHo1975 Regular cars burst into flames every day too. Wooly Mammoths used to gore humans. Seems rather odd to be afraid of this new technology as if you aren't surrounded by things that can do equal damage to you. Yes, regular cars can burst into flames but the causes are typically apparant and understandable, say an accident or shoddy maintanance. Woolly mammoths were dealt with by a team effort of the tribe, just as butchering the corpse was after the matter was concluded. (Must have made one hell of a barbeque!) Fear of the new technology? Probably driven more by the "If it bleeds, it leads!" mentality of the press. Electric cars aren't bursting into flame all over but the scare headlines don't help matters. Lithium fires ARE frightening because they can't be dealt with, at least not yet. Solutions will be found. Remember. people fear what they don't understand, always have and always will. Forest fires are out of the scope of the discussion. Another matter entirely.
What do you mean lithium (battery) fires can't be dealt with? Fire departments and fire fighters deal with such fires all the time. Does a person think fire fighters just sit around wondering what to do if they encounter a lithium-battery electric car on fire? I linked these on another thread -- they have "trade associations" or "professional organizations" where experts figure out the best practices to fight different kinds of fires, and this information is passed on to the people who have to fight these fires.
The best practice is that you pour water on this type of fire, you pour a lot of water over a long period of time. Yeah, yeah and yeah, electrical fires and water don't mix, but for electric vehicle fires, the experts who have studied this kind of fire think long and hard, and they tell fire fighters to keep the water coming. Because battery fires burn in the absence of an oxygen supply and they do this for a long, long time, fire fighters have to stand there, upwind if they can or with breathing gear if they cannot, and keep cooling the resulting slag pool with water.
This is the best practice to deal with an EV fire, and the news media and people around here can make of it what we want. Maybe if a new kind of EV battery is invented there will be a simpler, quicker way to put out a fire. But the fire departments don't design and build stuff -- they just live with the consequences the best they are able to.,
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Paul MilenkovicThe best practice is that you pour water on this type of fire, you pour a lot of water over a long period of time.
Tanker shuttles for a vehicle fire.
Who would have ever thought that'd be a thing?
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Paul MilenkovicWhat do you mean lithium (battery) fires can't be dealt with? Fire departments and fire fighters deal with such fires all the time. Does a person think fire fighters just sit around wondering what to do if they encounter a lithium-battery electric car on fire?
Have you forgotten what I said earlier? They contain it, even if they can't extinguish it. That means keeping the conflagration confined to the car itself and not letting it spread elsewhere, i.e. to adjacent structures, tree lines, lawns, overhead power lines, or what have you. Dumping thousands of gallons of water on it may contain it, but it won't put it out. Only time can do that.
I'm going to ask tree68 for some input on this, he's a firefighter himself.
This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening.
https://www.firerescue1.com/firefighter-training/articles/what-firefighters-need-to-know-about-electric-car-batteries-omiDv8vd87oZ9ZKs/
Note that in one test, a battery re-ignited some 22 hours after they thought it was out.
In our rural environment, I suspect that if the vehicle is not threatening any exposures, it's going to be allowed to turn itself into a pile of molten metal.
To consider the challenge of setting up a tanker operation, here are the factors we face: Each department in the area (including mine) has one tanker, usually 2,000 gallons. Getting the five bordering departments' tankers on the scene will involve travel times ranging from five minutes to 15, assuming a quick response by each department.
Most tankers fill and dump at 1000 gallons per minute, so figure two+ minutes for each operation, assuming there is sufficient on-scene capacity to completely dump a tanker when it arrives.
If we assume a five minute travel time in each direction between the fill site and the incident, that's another ten+ minutes (and that's optomistic - it could be 10-15 minutes each way).
In order to move 1000 gallons per minute, we need a tanker dumping every two minutes. One cycle will take at least 14-15 minutes.
Long story short - it will require at least 10 tankers to even approach 1000 gallons per minute. And the additional five that we'd need will take even longer to arrive.
That electric car will be completely gone by the time we can set up a relay of sufficient volume...
Now, if you're talking about the battery pack for a 3,000 HP locomotive...
As an aside, the method of applying extinguishing agent to flammable metals (like magnesium) is a shovel - the agent is a powder and comes in a bucket.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Shadow the Cats owner Yoho California doesn't have the power required to replace all the internal combustion engines just in that state alone. To do that is going to require doubling the power grid supply at minimum to handle the load to recharge the electric cars. Yet pg&e can't keep the freaking lights on in the state already.
Not sure how this is in anyway relevant to the points I raised, but it is worth noting that PG&E's bigged power delivery problem was a fire in Oregon, not California, that forced them to De-energize the lines running down from Bonneville. The Dixie fire, which they may have caused has also been a nightmare considering the feather river is littered with power dams.
They are finally working to bury some transmission lines which, as a former Chicagolander who saw my telephone poles come down in the earlier 80s, feels long over due, but as a Californian for 15 years, I wonder just how expensive it is to bore through all that Granite.
tree68This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening.
Thanks for your insights!
Flintlock76 tree68 This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening. Thanks for your insights!
tree68 This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening.
Hey, that is pretty much what I was saying, only I got scolded for saying I wasn't paying attention to earlier posts?
Paul Milenkovic Flintlock76 tree68 This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening. Thanks for your insights! Hey, that is pretty much what I was saying, only I got scolded for saying I wasn't paying attention to earlier posts?
Now we have been notified that all GM electric cars are being recalled to replace batteries with " UPGRADED " packs. Any bets of future results ?
Backshop Paul Milenkovic Flintlock76 tree68 This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening. Thanks for your insights! Hey, that is pretty much what I was saying, only I got scolded for saying I wasn't paying attention to earlier posts? "Containing" and "putting out" are two entirely different things. F76 was saying that they can't be fought, only contained. A house or gasoline fire can both be put out. Water and chemicals can do that. A battery fire like this can only be kept from spreading until it burns itself out.
"Containing" and "putting out" are two entirely different things. F76 was saying that they can't be fought, only contained. A house or gasoline fire can both be put out. Water and chemicals can do that. A battery fire like this can only be kept from spreading until it burns itself out.
F76 said
"There's been instances of electric cars catching fire and the local fire departments not being able to put the fire out, all they can do is contain it and make sure it doesn't spread to any surroundings. "
followed by the contradictory statement
"The trouble with lithium car battery fires is nothing in the firefighter's arsenal works on them"
and in turn
"Lithium fires ARE frightening because they can't be dealt with"
Fire fighters have a procedure for "dealing with" an electric vehicle fire that "works with" a lithium battery fire. Keeping pouring water on it until it cools down. This is not something improvised, it is the best practice developed by the fire fighting research community and fire departments are doing this.
Just because you are not "putting out" a fire does not mean there isn't an effective strategy for "dealing with a fire" or "fighting a fire" or "limiting the damage" -- that is what you try to do with any and all fires. Containing a fire is one mode of fighting a fire by limiting the damage it can do.
Paul Milenkovic Backshop Paul Milenkovic Flintlock76 tree68 This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening. Thanks for your insights! Hey, that is pretty much what I was saying, only I got scolded for saying I wasn't paying attention to earlier posts? "Containing" and "putting out" are two entirely different things. F76 was saying that they can't be fought, only contained. A house or gasoline fire can both be put out. Water and chemicals can do that. A battery fire like this can only be kept from spreading until it burns itself out. F76 said "There's been instances of electric cars catching fire and the local fire departments not being able to put the fire out, all they can do is contain it and make sure it doesn't spread to any surroundings. " Followed by "The trouble with lithium car battery fires is nothing in the firefighter's arsenal works on them"
Followed by
Backshop Paul Milenkovic Backshop Paul Milenkovic Flintlock76 tree68 This article from a fire service publication may prove enlightening. Thanks for your insights! Hey, that is pretty much what I was saying, only I got scolded for saying I wasn't paying attention to earlier posts? "Containing" and "putting out" are two entirely different things. F76 was saying that they can't be fought, only contained. A house or gasoline fire can both be put out. Water and chemicals can do that. A battery fire like this can only be kept from spreading until it burns itself out. F76 said "There's been instances of electric cars catching fire and the local fire departments not being able to put the fire out, all they can do is contain it and make sure it doesn't spread to any surroundings. " Followed by "The trouble with lithium car battery fires is nothing in the firefighter's arsenal works on them" Which is correct. Nothing works on the battery fire; water and other agents keep other nearby flammable materials from being ignited. As Tree said, many departments don't have the equipment to keep up the steady streams of water needed. They also don't have the resources or manpower to keep it deployed at one location for many hours.
Which is correct. Nothing works on the battery fire; water and other agents keep other nearby flammable materials from being ignited. As Tree said, many departments don't have the equipment to keep up the steady streams of water needed. They also don't have the resources or manpower to keep it deployed at one location for many hours.
That is incorrect. There is something that "works" on a lithium battery fire -- tending it by pouring water on it until it burns itself out. Just because some fire departments lack the resources to do the one thing that "works" doesn't mean there isn't a strategy.
The reason I am "on this" is that fire departments and fire fighters are not helpless against lithium battery fires, and to suggest or imply they are helpless denigrates the professionalism of the fire fighting community and those in that community who study how best to fight different types of fires.
Paul MilenkovicThat is incorrect. There is something that "works" on a lithium battery fire -- tending it by pouring water on it until it burns itself out. Just because some fire departments lack the resources to do the one thing that "works" doesn't mean there isn't a strategy. The reason I am "on this" is that fire departments and fire fighters are not helpless against lithium battery fires, and to suggest or imply they are helpless denigrates the professionalism of the fire fighting community and those in that community who study how best to fight different types of fires.
There is no means for a FD to STOP a Lithium fire BEFORE the lithium fuel of the fire is exhausted. Yes that is a FD strategy - as long as the water supply holds out.
BaltACD Paul Milenkovic That is incorrect. There is something that "works" on a lithium battery fire -- tending it by pouring water on it until it burns itself out. Just because some fire departments lack the resources to do the one thing that "works" doesn't mean there isn't a strategy. The reason I am "on this" is that fire departments and fire fighters are not helpless against lithium battery fires, and to suggest or imply they are helpless denigrates the professionalism of the fire fighting community and those in that community who study how best to fight different types of fires. There is no means for a FD to STOP a Lithium fire BEFORE the lithium fuel of the fire is exhausted. Yes that is a FD strategy - as long as the water supply holds out.
Paul Milenkovic That is incorrect. There is something that "works" on a lithium battery fire -- tending it by pouring water on it until it burns itself out. Just because some fire departments lack the resources to do the one thing that "works" doesn't mean there isn't a strategy. The reason I am "on this" is that fire departments and fire fighters are not helpless against lithium battery fires, and to suggest or imply they are helpless denigrates the professionalism of the fire fighting community and those in that community who study how best to fight different types of fires.
The reason I emphasize "lithium battery" fire rather than "lithium fire" is that metalic lithium does not appear in a lithium battery and is not what burns
Lithium Ion Battery Fire and Explosion (iafss.org)
That said, someone tell me what about my remark "There is something that "works" on a lithium battery fire -- tending it by pouring water on it until it burns itself out. " reveals that I am unware that the fire fighting strategy is to prevent surrounding property from catching fire while the lithium battery fire continues until it exhausts itself of the fuel and oxidizer disclosed in the link?
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