The Pennsylvania State Fire Department, USA, on Monday extinguished a Tesla car that caught fire at a Supercharger charging station in Mechanicsburg. The car burned to the ground, leaving only the frame.
After extinguishing the open fire, firefighters had to cool the electric vehicle’s battery pack with additional water and instructed the local hazardous materials department to help with spill/drainage control. Fortunately, there were no injuries in the incident.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but the incident highlights the particular dangers associated with fires involving electric vehicles. Despite the fact that such fires occur infrequently compared to internal combustion vehicles, they pose a hidden danger Rechargeable battery of electric cars can catch fire again — even a few days after the fire.
«It enters thermal mode — the battery simply continues to generate its own heat. It takes a long time to cool it down. We’re talking about seven hours of hosing down,» says fire captain Peter Rocco.
Such fires force firefighters to stay on the scene for several hours as they have to pour many liters of water on the battery pack. In addition, the smoke from an electric vehicle is also quite dangerous. If an electric car catches fire, unfortunately, a conventional fire extinguisher will not work. It is better to get out of the car as soon as possible and call the fire department.
Source: The Byte