Lithium fires are no joke.

Once a li-ion cell goes into thermal runway there is no stopping it.

I learned this many years ago when I bought a 3-year-old car at a pretty decent price. It was within a reasonable rate, so nothing was suspicious. It looked like it was in great shape, had the new car smell, low mileage, clean engine, all the belts were in great shape, tires were the original and also in great shape (which indicates that the low mileage was legit, and not a flip-over of the odometer).

Fast forward a year and I couldn't get the smell of mildew out of the back, and everything was constantly getting wet.

I pulled up the rug and there was a big rusty hole in the trunk. Did some checking on the VIN and found that it had been a flood damage item on someone's insurance.

MY insurance wouldn't cover the damage, and I couldn't afford to get the floor of my vehicle replaced. So I traded it in for another car, took a $5000 loss on the trade-in because it was technically not drivable but useable only for parts. Now when I look for a replacement vehicle I always check under the rugs.

It’s not about training. EVs have magnesium in them which is a flammable metal. It ignites and burns intensely when exposed to air or water. The only way to extinguish it is with a special powder “purple K.” It’s a lot more expensive than water so expect your fire tax to go up if you insist on having firefighters “better trained”.

One of my neighbors here in TV had their house burn down because their lithium scooter caught fire in the garage. It took them well over a year to rebuild.

Did it take as long as others have said to put out the fire?

It happened in the middle of the night so I don’t know. It is a neighbor on the next street over.

hmmm, interesting point about the significant cost of fighting a battery fire.

I would think that once the cost of fighting these fires starts to cause a budget issue, the state or local tax authority would put a large excise tax on the registration of an electric vehicle.

If the price to extinguish is 4x, and specifically identifiable by vehicle. .

jus' sayin'

Not hating electric golf carts, just generally disliking the risk with lithium batteries and realizing that there are hidden costs to the owner and to the general public if we have a large proportion of electric vehicles. The cost to extinguish may fall on us, versus the owner, in the form of higher taxes and or higher auto insurance.

Lithium batteries and water do not play well together. Lithium combined with water produces hydrogen gas which is combustible. It's very dangerous to submerge lithium batteries in water. Also, lithium batteries are known to overheat when over used and catch fire. There is research being conducted now to find a better power storage element that is less volatile.

Yes on The Purple K… that was what we used to put out Aircraft fires… also be careful of “ Title Washing” a practice used to hide the vehicle history!

Purple K is unsuccessful for treating lithium battery fires. The preferred method is to let them burn out.

Get Ready: For Lithium-Ion Battery Fires - Emergency Operations - Industrial Fire World