In Wake Of Chevy Bolt And Tesla Fires, Battery Tech In Focus

Electrical car batteries are getting extra scrutiny within the wake of high-profile fires.

GM has confirmed at the very least 12 fires in 2017-2019 mannequin yr Bolts whereas automobiles are parked, i.e., non-crash-related fires. Whereas Tesla has not commented on current fires, there have been a number of seemingly spontaneous fires: one home garage fire in San Ramon, Calif., one other involving a brand new Model S Plaid in Haverford, PA., and one late last year in Frisco, Tex.

However is the scrutiny warranted?

“I feel with any new expertise…as a result of they’re EVs it’s inherently extra attention-grabbing [to the public]. In the meantime, we’re driving round with these huge gasoline tanks in our personal automobiles,” Jessica Caldwell, govt director of insights at Edmunds, informed me in an interview.

“I do not suppose finally we’ll discover out that batteries are inherently extra harmful,” she added.

The Nationwide Hearth Safety Affiliation mentioned this in 2020: “Whereas hybrid and electrical autos have change into extra widespread, current information assortment techniques haven’t but adequately captured the frequency of fires involving these particular autos.”

For the Bolt, GM cited manufacturing defects that middle on “a torn anode tab and folded separator” that when “current in the identical battery cell…will increase the chance of fireplace.” GM finally recalled all Chevy Bolts as a consequence of fireplace danger, together with the most recent 2020-2022 Bolts that originally weren’t included within the recall.

This has brought about panic amongst various Bolt homeowners and leasees, as evidenced in online forums. Over 100,000 Bolts have been bought or leased so far within the U.S. GM batteries are provided by LG Chem.

“It is essential for us all to do not forget that the Bolt recall is not a battery expertise downside — it is a manufacturing high quality concern,” mentioned Scott Case CEO of Recurrent, a Seattle-based startup that gives battery evaluation for EV homeowners, in an electronic mail.

And with GM offering car buybacks or battery replacements, it’s not as if GM is ignoring the issue, Case says.

“Lengthy-term, a 2017 or 2018 Chevy Bolt that will get a model new battery is an incredible deal,” he mentioned.  

Edmunds’ Caldwell agrees. “It does really feel like [GM is] taking this very critically. They don’t seem to be attempting to only put a bandaid on it. They’re attempting to really repair this concern,” she mentioned.

EV fires additionally are typically very totally different from gasoline automotive fires, thus the heightened scrutiny.

A Tesla Mannequin S fireplace in April required practically 30,000 gallons of water to extinguish it. By comparability, a typical automotive fireplace involving a gasoline engine will be extinguished with about 300 gallons of water.

And all that water takes time. An EV fireplace can take hours to place out in comparison with a gasoline automotive fireplace that may be beneath management in minutes.

“Not like gasoline, which will be drained from a car’s tank, there aren’t any surefire strategies of eradicating vitality from a automotive’s lithium-ion battery when the battery has been broken in a crash,” in keeping with the Nationwide Hearth Safety Company Journal.

“Due to this, vitality stays trapped contained in the battery and a course of generally known as thermal runaway can happen, by which the battery basically constantly overheats and over-pressurizes and is susceptible to fires, arc-flashing, off-gassing, and generally explosions.”

So, a Tesla fireplace or Chevy Bolt fireplace or a Hyundai Kona EV fire are going to get extra consideration than, let’s say, a Toyota Corolla catching fireplace even if there isn’t a exhausting impartial information that compares gasoline and electrical automotive fires.

“There’s no complete information supply that we’re conscious of” that compares electrical and gasoline automotive fires, mentioned Jason Okay. Levine, Govt Director of the Washington DC-based Middle for Auto Security in an electronic mail.

“Non-crash fires are at all times price investigating irrespective of how the car is powered,” Levine mentioned. “The priority with battery electrical car fires is two-fold: how typically are they taking place and the way ready are our first responders to react?”

Feedback or options will be despatched to me through a direct twitter message at twitter.com/mbrookec.