Jeep Wrangler 4xe hybrid battery explodes

[voxel]

Sounding more like when these things go, make sure they're in the open and let them burn out. Any catastrophic battery malfunction is going to total the vehicle, only concern would be for structure or life at that point.

The argument for dousing water or something cold is to prevent the damaged cells from causing damage to pristine cells via heat, etc. I don't know how effective it is in reality.

Damaged cells that have a short... they just need to burn. There's almost no stopping the chemical fire except to kept it at a simmer.

Modern EVs have battery packs made up of modules so in theory you could rip out the shorted/damaged modules but these EVs do not make it easy to access the battery.

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[flip]

The argument for dousing water or something cold is to prevent the damaged cells from causing damage to pristine cells via heat, etc. I don't know how effective it is in reality.

Damaged cells that have a short... they just need to burn. There's almost no stopping the chemical fire except to kept it at a simmer.

Modern EVs have battery packs made up of modules so in theory you could rip out the shorted/damaged modules but these EVs do not make it easy to access the battery.

After having seeing a mach e pack out, my opinion is once an uncontrolled heat event starts, the whole thing is done. The whole assembly is sealed with the exception of coolant that circulates through the heat sinks. Once water hits these, the whole pack is scrap.

 

[Bronco1971]

It was a hydrogen gas explosion basically. No gasoline involved. The garage door actually flew over the BC and knocked his helmet off.. UL is currently doing a study of EV fires blowing garage doors off. So stop pretending you know wtf you’re talking about unless you’re in the business. He’s lucky to be alive.

To expand here, these kinds of lightweight garage doors offer only a fraction of the pressure strength of the stud walls. Being the weakest element in the garage they will act like a blast panel and relieve the pressure.

There are two major hazards with this beyond the obvious. The first is of course what nearly happened to your BC. (Glad he's OK.) I think these are going to be somewhat unpredictable in their trajectory when they go. It would seem advisable to give those doors a wide berth.

The second is the springs. When the door goes, the torsion springs could easily become lethal when they release stored energy.

I'm curious, has consideration been given to opening the door before the H reaches stoich?

Be careful out there.

 

[Tex]

After having seeing a mach e pack out, my opinion is once an uncontrolled heat event starts, the whole thing is done. The whole assembly is sealed with the exception of coolant that circulates through the heat sinks. Once water hits these, the whole pack is scrap.

So basically what you're saying is EV manufacturers need to make a tray that holds the batteries on rails, so that if a fire develops, it automatically ejects the entire battery pack with a small rocket motor into the neighbor's house across the street. Get rid of your fire hazard and your neighbors with a single push of the button. I'd pay double for that.

 

[flip]

So basically what you're saying is EV manufacturers need to make a tray that holds the batteries on rails, so that if a fire develops, it automatically ejects the entire battery pack with a small rocket motor into the neighbor's house across the street. Get rid of your fire hazard and your neighbors with a single push of the button. I'd pay double for that.

Or some sort of on-board suppression system that floods the pack with some sort of neutralizer. I don't think Halon will work and I don't fully understand the exact chemical reaction that takes place. One would think there's some some sort of neutralizer out there that could, if nothing else, buy emergency services and owner some time to get the vehicle to a safe melt down area to help reduce possible personal injury or further property damage.

When we work on these we use a piece of equipment to bleed off most of the charge to reduce the chances of electrocution. It looks a lot like the old carbon pile battery tester. I'm sure there are a lot of different issues with these depending on battery chemical mix and packaging but in the race to make these, I don't know that they've spent enough time on how to deal with inherent lithium battery problems, specifically run away melt downs. Another problem, recently highlighted in an Autonews article, is how to appraise EVs due to battery degradation. When new cells are replaced they have to be "balanced" or degraded to match the rest of the pack. If you do a lot of DC charging it will degrade life faster than slow charging thus accelerating how fast you lose value. IMO, until reman battery packs become available through aftermarket suppliers, no way in hell would I consider anything but a manufacturer lease. If half of the vehicle value/expense is in the battery, that alone will determine if you get a reasonable trade off or scrap bid. Lease or nothing at least for now.

 

[JohnnyBronco]

Lithium battery fires burn very hot and when sprayed with water the chemical reaction splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is then ignited by the fire and add in the free oxygen in an enclosed space and boom. Firefighters need to use special equipment to deal with lithium ion battery fires.

There not only needs to be much addition firefighter training g but also big foot high decals on electric vehicles warni g of potential explosive nature of flooded battery.

There were cases of flood vehicles spontaneously catching fire

 

[Lèòn]

Yep, been saying this would happen

 

[JBlanco]

I saw a Kia minivan on fire today by the side of the road... Never made it to the news tho...

 

[FTXBronco]

Reason #379 I have no interest in EV BS. Never will.

 

[Lèòn]

I saw a Kia minivan on fire today by the side of the road... Never made it to the news tho...

Where was the fire, in the front or the whole car?

A fire extinguisher would work for the Kia, not so much a battery

 

[JBlanco]

Where was the fire, in the front or the whole car?

A fire extinguisher would work for the Kia, not so much a battery

When I passed it, the front was burning with black smoke. The owners were about 500 feet back and waiting for the fire department. The van likely ended up like the Bronco that burned the other day posted here regardless of anyone owning an extinguisher...
The point is that the Kia nor the Bronco burning ever made it to the news...

 

[Lèòn]

When I passed it, the front was burning with black smoke. The owners were about 500 feet back and waiting for the fire department. The van likely ended up like the Bronco that burned the other day posted here regardless of anyone owning an extinguisher...
The point is that the Kia nor the Bronco burning ever made it to the news...

Because they’re rarer and not as deadly or toxic

Fire department could put them out no problem, EV’s are more difficult to put out and can reignite without warning, sometimes gotta be submerged for a month to boot

EV’s are like A.S.S., VERY FEW people ever wanted or asked for it and we’re getting it shoved down our throats. If A.S.S. Were an option you could check off, be rarer to find than a new manual BMW

 

[JBlanco]

Because they’re rarer and not as deadly or toxic

Fire department could put them out no problem, EV’s are more difficult to put out and can reignite without warning, sometimes gotta be submerged for a month to boot

EV’s are like A.S.S., VERY FEW people ever wanted or asked for it and we’re getting it shoved down our throats. If A.S.S. Were an option you could check off, be rarer to find than a new manual BMW

Care to share where you found that ICE fires are rarer than EV fires?

According to actual research in 2023, ICE vehicles caught fire at 1,530 incidents per 100,000 vehicles. EV fires are at with 25 fires per 100,000 vehicles.

Who is shoving EVs down your throat? You should report that, because here in the real world there are still plenty of gas vehicles you can choose from.
Manual cars are rare because nobody buys them, not because people want them and there is a government conspiracy against them...

 

[Lèòn]

Care to share where you found that ICE fires are rarer than EV fires?

According to actual research in 2023, ICE vehicles caught fire at 1,530 incidents per 100,000 vehicles. EV fires are at with 25 fires per 100,000 vehicles.

Who is shoving EVs down your throat? You should report that, because here in the real world there are still plenty of gas vehicles you can choose from.
Manual cars are rare because nobody buys them, not because people want them and there is a government conspiracy against them...

Maybe rarer is the wrong word, but difference is I could take a fire extinguisher to a gas fire, diesel fires are rarer, and forget about trying to put out a douche buggy (ev), firefighters need 40k gallons to put that shit out

“Mandates” from the govt saying all cars in a few years need to cut emissions (when cars are a ton cleaner than theyve ever been) and manuals are gone because of dealerships not ordering them, cut out the middleman (dealers) and wait for a custom order and there’d be more sticks out there.

 

[Sherminiator]

Maybe rarer is the wrong word, but difference is I could take a fire extinguisher to a gas fire, diesel fires are rarer, and forget about trying to put out a douche buggy (ev), firefighters need 40k gallons to put that shit out

“Mandates” from the govt saying all cars in a few years need to cut emissions (when cars are a ton cleaner than theyve ever been) and manuals are gone because of dealerships not ordering them, cut out the middleman (dealers) and wait for a custom order and there’d be more sticks out there.

Sounds like you just don't like change....The problem is that even though cars are cleaner then they ever have been, they STILL emit Co2 and other pollution more then an EV does. Its far easier to regulate powerplants (or even get CO2 free electric from Solar/wind) then it is with Thousands of tiny ICE engines on the road.

Also, before you start spouting things about power generation, it looks like your from NJ-we produce 50% from nuke power and another 40% from Natural Gas sources...which our current governor wants to phase out in another 10-15 years (which I doubt can happen), which apparently is going to come from all wind farms being built off the coast.

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