When a hurricane like Helene or Milton ravages coastal communities, already-strained first responders face a novel, and rising, risk: the lithium-ion batteries that energy electrical automobiles, e-bikes, and numerous devices. When uncovered to the salty water of a storm surge, they’re vulnerable to bursting into flames — and taking a whole home with them.
“Something that’s lithium-ion and uncovered to salt water can have a difficulty,” stated Invoice Morelli, the fireplace chief in Seminole, Florida, and the larger the battery, the better the risk. That’s what makes EVs particularly hazardous. “[The problem] has expanded as they proceed to be increasingly more standard.”
It’s not but clear what number of automobiles may need caught hearth within the wake of Hurricane Milton, which slammed into Tampa Bay on Wednesday, leaving no less than 13 folks lifeless and a few 80,000 in shelters. However there have been 48 confirmed battery fires associated to storm surge from Hurricane Helene, 11 of them related to EVs.
Morelli’s crews fought three of them. St. Petersburg Fireplace Rescue reported no less than two, one from an electrical bike and one other from a Mercedes-Benz EQB300 that led to what a hearth division consultant known as “main injury to the house.” CNN and different retailers reported on a hearth in Sarasota sparked by a Tesla Mannequin X.
General, such fires are removed from widespread. Idaho Nationwide Laboratory discovered that of the three,000 to five,000 electrical automobiles broken by Hurricane Ian in 2022, about three dozen caught hearth. Public consciousness of the chance has mounted since then, with officers as much as and together with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urging residents to maneuver their EVs to greater floor forward of storms. However the chemistry and building of lithium-ion batteries make them particularly susceptible to fires which can be tough for first responders to fight.
“They burn sizzling, they burn quick, and so they’re exhausting to extinguish,” Morelli stated.
The battery in an EV is comprised of 1000’s of cells stacked and packed right into a sealed enclosure. If salt water, which is especially conductive, reaches the inside of a battery, it might probably trigger a brief circuit, which may generate extreme warmth that jumps from cell to cell. “That’s known as ‘thermal runaway,’” stated Andrew Klock, senior supervisor of training and growth on the Nationwide Fireplace Safety Affiliation.
As a battery heats up, it releases flammable gases that may ignite. As soon as the automobile begins burning, strategies of placing out conventional car fires — similar to foam or thermal blankets to smother the flames — aren’t as efficient. “Lithium-ion batteries generate their very own oxygen and warmth when they’re on hearth,” Klock stated. “You’ll be able to’t starve the fireplace.“
As a substitute, first responders should direct excessive volumes of water on the battery pack as instantly as doable with the intention to cut back the warmth. The Worldwide Affiliation of Fireplace Chiefs recommends having 3,000 to eight,000 gallons available — which could be tough throughout a catastrophe, when hydrants might not be working correctly and vehicles have a restricted provide aboard.
“They take tons and tons and tons and tons of water to extinguish,” stated Morelli, who’s working with different departments to amass extra thermal blankets. A prepared provide of them might permit firefighters to smother the flames sufficient to maneuver the automobile away from buildings so it might probably burn itself out safely.
Klock stated “coaching is paramount” to successfully preventing these fires. However of the roughly 1.2 million firefighters within the nation, solely 350,000 or so have accomplished the affiliation’s coaching, he stated. “There’s quite a lot of work to do.”
The hazard doesn’t finish when a storm passes, both. In accordance with the Division of Transportation, “the time-frame by which a broken battery can ignite varies, from days to weeks,” which is one purpose Tesla urges house owners to not function their car till a vendor inspects it.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents 44 automakers and suppliers, declined to remark however cited a letter it despatched to Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida on the problem in 2022. It notes that “security is a prime precedence for our members, which is why they’ve been engaged in long-standing efforts to deal with hearth dangers for each conventionally fueled automobiles and EVs.”
Within the meantime, a variety of efforts are underway to attempt to forestall these fires from occurring. The Federal Emergency Administration Company has funded analysis into rising hazards of at-home battery storage programs. Different researchers are taking a look at how one can make batteries safer, together with Yang Yang, an affiliate professor of supplies science and engineering on the College of Central Florida. His group developed a battery that, as an alternative of preventing salt water, makes use of it as the primary electrolyte.
“It may be soaked within the salty water and nonetheless works effectively,” stated Yang, who began engaged on the undertaking after dwelling in Houston and Florida and seeing firsthand the issue floods current. Whereas he stated automobile corporations have but to contact him about his analysis, he’s optimistic that safer batteries could possibly be available on the market inside the subsequent few years.
Till then, storms like Helene and Milton could also be among the many greatest drivers of public consideration to each the issue and prevention strategies. Yang, for one, finds that chance bittersweet at finest: “I don’t need folks to have any points with their electrical automobiles.”
