Airport car park fire shuts down airport (guess why?)
 

VIDEO: Luton airport plunged into chaos as massive fire suspends all flights -

However, turns out that it was a range rover hybrid charging. Lithium ion not the best to leave charging

From a Reuters article:

"The fire service can confirm the initial vehicle involved in the fire was a diesel car," the local fire authority said, adding that it would investigate the exact cause.

Though maybe Range Rover has a plug-in diesel hybrid

I have a Tesla UpNorth, and left it plugged in for 5.5 months while in TV last winter. Tesla recommends the charge be set to 50% during extended absences. Did not have any issues. Obviously anecdotal, but if you read the Tesla forums, people do this all the time.

diesel flashpoint is in the 130 degree+ range.
if you have a cup of diesel at 70 degrees, you can put a match out in it.

diesel has to be hot to burn /

gasoline flashpoint below zero, gasoline ignites very easily

so diesel doesn't spontaneously combust,
but a hybrid with a battery, diesel might be irrelevant

Are you attempting to dispute the statement from the local fire authority or agree that Range Rover might have a plugin diesel hybrid (the Land Rover site implies they do not)?

Odd, but not impossible, that the local fire authority would not mention that a lithium battery might have been involved.

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2023...car-park-fire#

AA technical expert Greg Carter said the most common cause of car fires is an electrical fault with the 12-volt battery system.
.

I'm aware of a car fire traced to a USB lithium charging pack left connected in a car, overheating and causing a fire. You've probably heard of similar events on aircraft.

Plus, diesel is nearly identical to home heating oil. Many people in the North have tanks full of it in their basements.

They're saying maybe 1,500 cars have been damaged. What a nightmare. Also, I saw they said some perhaps undamaged cars may be lost due to the parking garage needing to be demolished & recovering the cars might be too dangerous.

Yep.

Back UpNort, 50-odd years ago now, I spent some time as a logger. Not uncommon to go to work in January when the temp. was -30 and even lower. Our equipment was all diesel, and often as not it didn't want to start in those temps, so we'd have to warm them up before starting them. One accepted way was to build a little fire under the oil pan. Took maybe 1/2 hour at most and they'd start right up. You'd NEVER want to do that with a gasoline engine.

Good grief

I have to plug in my tractor to heat up the engine block when the temperature drops below 10 degrees to prevent the diesel fuel from gelling up when I need to fire her up to plow the snow. Or should I say, I used to have to. Now I hope to be in the Villages when it’s anywhere near that cold outside up north, swimming laps in a heated outside pool and playing golf.

Many moons ago when I was working in farming, we used to hold burning paper roll over air intake on freezing days when starting diesel tractors.
Used to put some gas in diesel as well, to stop it turning to gel when freezing.
Both 'tricks' worked well.

Fuel additive to prevent gelling, way better than putting gas in the diesel. Gas can damage a diesel engine.

They do produce a mild-hybrid diesel for the UK/European market.

But that doesn’t plug in (though there have been fires in “plain” hybrids too)

You’re right, the MHEV does not plug in but there have been fire concerns with the technology. They conducted a recall earlier for fire cases.

We used to put in a fuel additive the night before a cold snap was expected and then run the machine for about 10 minutes to make sure all of the fuel was treated. I did know some folks who used gasoline and apparently that worked for them.

Do they have EV type lithium batteries?

I am talking about back in the early 60's.
Farmer I started with had tractors dating back to the 40's.
No way would he have spent a dime on 'Fancy Dan' additives when gas had always worked.
The place, was held together with baling twine as well, but the mean, cantankerous old $£%$&&! new more about livestock than anyone else, including the vet.
That's why I worked for him. Just for his knowledge.

Yes, 48V lithium.

Diesel is the winner according to BBC.

What caused the Luton Airport fire and what happens next? - BBC News

Gasoline dangerous in diesel can cause engine to run away rpm’s. If get too much.

If that many vehicles was damaged IMO would be hard to pin point cause unless someone was there when it started.

I am surprised we don’t have more gasoline related fires now that most all vehicles are high pressure fuel injected.

There is no cause, there is just a description of the events, with two "thought to be"s assumptions.
The unknown cause was clearly stated in the article, however diesel doesn't not spontaneously combust, so still focused on the battery

Yet the only battery mentioned was the 12V system.

There is little or no knowledge yet of what actually caused the fire. But, that includes no reason to suspect that it was in any way related to charging or lithium batteries.

Enough already, I do not own an EV, but this is getting boring.
This subject is an ongoing at lease, once a month someone will come on here and blame EVs for everything short of JFK's assignation.

Turns out the author didn't bother to check his references. Actually, the fire started with a diesel vehicle, and no EV was the source, according to the fire department:

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service revealed on Wednesday morning the cause of the blaze was a diesel car. “We don't believe it was an electric vehicle,” Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said.

Not sure
 

Not sure what you did 50 years ago has to do with this post.

What
 

And what does this have to do with the fire at the airport. Thread drift at its best

Pretty sure Lee Harvey Oswald drove an experimental EV to the book building.

Recent fire at Wesley Chapel BMW consumed 10 cars in parking garage. Thought to be due to Lithium battery.

Thought by whom to be due to lithium battery? Has there been any reporting on that or just speculation that a car fire must have been caused by the latest boogeyman?

Bingo, we have a winner....

Drift
 

What does this have to do with the topic

1. Sounds like you got fact checked and BUSTED in real time on this one!:cryin2:chilout
2. I find it mildly amusing that now all the lithium battery deniers are shifting the topic to diesel fuel and diesel fuel additives… Etc… Etc:BigApplause:

Thread drift
 

What does this have to do with this topic

Thread drift
 

What does this have to do with the topic

Doesn't apply to this topic. Start another topic for your comments

Learning Curve
 

In aviation, every plane mishap is scrutinized to learn.

Here is an interesting article about early driving issues:
In the 1910s, speeding, reckless driving, collisions, and pedestrian fatalities were new problems requiring new solutions. The first remedies comprised a social response focused on controlling and improving driver behavior.
Automobile Safety | National Museum of American History

Truth is always colored by politics.