Reposted from the NoTricksZone
By P Gosselin on 7. November 2021
E-buses in Germany a “fire hazard” as batteries can heat up to 1000°C. German cities taking vehicles out of service as a precaution.
Even after years of fine-tuning, electric vehicle manufacturers still seem unable to get e-vehicle technology to work as safely as it needs to for personal and public transportation.
German media, for example here, report that currently electric buses are being withdrawn from service in cities because they pose a fire hazard. Earlier in June of this year in Hanover, Germany, a major fire destroyed nine buses belonging to the Üstra transport company and so the company took the remaining buses out of service until the exact cause is determined.
“Not just the case in Hanover, it is becoming increasingly common for electric vehicles to be removed from service in cities, and the reasons are often down to a common cause: Fire safety,” reports the online MK.
Stuttgart withdraw buses from service after fire
The Stuttgart transport authority also took buses out of service after an electric bus fire destroyed 25 vehicles. The MK also reports that the city of Regensburg also removed the same kind of electric bus from service for fear of fire.
According to the MK, the problem is the extremes heat generated by the vehicle’s batteries, which can reach temperatures of 1000°C due to “thermal runaway”.
15-meter safe parking distance
“In the process, the lithium-ion batteries release energy in an uncontrolled manner,” reports the MK. “For the same reason, electric cars also repeatedly catch fire. The first e-cars are now only allowed to park at a distance of 15 meters because of the risk of fire.”
Also in China e-buses were recorded bursting into flames as they charged:
Even e-scooters can burst into flames. The following example also shows how difficult it can be to extinguish e-vehicle fires.
Also read here: https://notrickszone.com/2021/06/11/electric-bus-inferno-in-hanover-germany-explosive-fire-causes-millions-in-damages/
If I was a high wealth individual investor or director on the board of a motor vehicle manufacturing business or similar and the global market for ICEV was highly competitive and profit margins were shrinking I would recommend a transition to EV, the potential profits from replacing the ICEV fleet with EV, providing recharging infrastructure after removing liquid fuel distribution facilities, recycling ICEV traded in for scrap value and other new for profit business opportunities.
Of course I would also lobby governments to legislate for ICEV removal from the roads to force the consumers to transition.
I would even consider selling part of my shareholding in renewable energy to invest in EV transition and related opportunities.
We no longer need Battery Electric transit buses. The original justification for Battery Electric buses was for their zero pollution attributes (PM, NOx, reduced toxicity), and latter CO2 reductions.
Since 2007 all diesels sold in USA are equipped with diesel soot filters. The cleanest diesels are 103% effective reducing PM, HC and CO pollution in air violation areas.They clean air violation air as they drive. Using bio and renewable diesels provides greater CO2 reductions than Battery Electric vehicles for most power generation modes used today in California.
Unfortunately, CARB’s clean air policy is preventing clean air progress, CARB is too invested in ZEVs that they lost sight of their core job. Per the Clean Air Act their job is to reduce air violations. Believe it or not Battery Electric vehicles do not provide air quality violation mitigation.
The core problem is lithium, which is often used in tranquilizers. The batteries become tranquil, they get careless, they let heat build up and then they burst into flames. The batteries would be better made of sodium, although then they’d be subject to high blood pressure.
All this is confusing. Why does everything have to be so complicated? It used to be fun being ignorant and stupid, but now everybody is getting on my case about it. Why are smart people so mean?
Burn baby, burn!
So the only place that does electric buses right is Chattanooga, TN? They’ve run an electric shuttle bus service since the early 1990’s. Aside from the initial federal grant to start the program, it’s been funded by donations and a cut from downtown parking fees. Riding it on the loop between the downtown station and the old railroad yard, and from the station across the river, is free – though there are donation boxes on the buses and at the stations. AFAIK they haven’t had any catch fire. Their first buses used lead-acid battery packs and they had a fast swap facility at the railroad yard station. They couldn’t run all day and charging took too long. Their next buses had NiMH batteries that held enough charge to run almost all day and could top off enough charge fast enough to finish a day so they stopped doing battery swaps. When I went to Chattanooga a few years ago they were getting their third series buses with Lithium-Ion batteries. Those could run a full day without needing any recharging. Wouldn’t be surprised if they’re looking at Lithium-Iron-Phosphate now. That technology can be run down to nearly zero % charge without damaging the batteries, unlike Lead-Acid, NiMH, or Lithium-Ion. It doesn’t matter that the energy density is less, compared to Lead-Acid, a 100 amp-hour Li-Fe-PO4 is equivalent capacity to a 200 amp-hour lead-acid that can only be safely drawn down to 50%. Li-Fe-PO4 also weighs less than other battery types, so that also works to improve vehicle range.
If you have a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation Toyota Prius (ignoring that the actual 1st gen was only sold in Japan) there’s a company that has developed a Li-Fe-PO4 replacement for the NiMH battery. It holds more energy than the original battery and includes electronic controls that trick the car into charging it up more and drawing it down more so it can rely more on the battery than the engine at lower speeds. With the original NiMH battery it only charges up to about 90% of maximum capacity and won’t discharge below the safe voltage for that chemistry.
If that’s the CARTA bus service, they had a bus fire in 2020.
I know nothing about battery chemistry, but I know that the Chinese company BYD claims LiFePO4 batteries don’t catch fire the way lithium-ion batteries do. They started using BYD city buses in Indianapolis two years ago.
I know nothing about battery chemistry, but I heard that the Chinese company BYD claims LiFePO4 batteries don’t catch fire the way lithium-ion batteries do. The Indianapolis city-bus company started using BYD buses two years ago. I haven’t heard of any fires yet–but that doesn’t mean they’ve had none.
When an electric vehicles starts smoking – RUN!
Battery tech is moving on/will move on.
We have refined ICE over 150 years.
EV battery tech, what 15 years (to any real degree)? (Tesla started 2006)
What is out there (EV batteries) now WONT be there in 20 or even 10 years time…..
This is one that deals with the fire risk ….
It’s Chinese and backed by Warren Buffett.
So it wont fail …. the chinese will see to that.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/01/buffett-owns-more-of-chinese-electric-car-maker-byd-than-general-motors.html
The Search For The Magic Battery continues…
“Going Green” will burn you every time!