Marine Car Transport Ship Fire

[GTB]

Saw this news earlier Fremantle Highway on fire and they look to be struggling to tow back to safety. 3000 cars on board and all news agencies saying it was a EV car that started the blaze!! Given of the 3000 cars on board only 25 were EV's that isnt looking good for the safety of these.

Everyone has always known danger of exothermic runaway on Lithium Ion batteries and Im sure the insurers will be apprasing the cover when these are shipped. Thats the second loss of a marine transporter................

https://news.sky.com/story/one-dead-and ... s-12927537


GTB

[Moriarty]

Wow. One person died and several injured. And the cost of the damage must be astronomical. Let’s say £20,000 cost per car for 3,000 cars (that’s £60 million), plus a cargo ship (don’t know if it’s salvageable but according to Google they cost $35-100 million), plus compensation for injury and loss of life, and lost earnings.

That could be a £150 million faulty battery.

[GeeRam]

And on a similar theme.......

Last weekend's British round of the World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill was cancelled when a battery fire destroyed two of the leading cars in the EV class and their car transporter in the pits during battery charging........

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... royed-fire

[andreas]

And on a similar theme.......

Last weekend's British round of the World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill was cancelled when a battery fire destroyed two of the leading cars in the EV class and their car transporter in the pits during battery charging........

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... royed-fire

Important to note that those cars were not production cars, they were unique custom-built cars and, as such, are unlikely to be as sophisticated as production cars in terms of battery management and thermal control.

[GTB]

And on a similar theme.......

Last weekend's British round of the World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill was cancelled when a battery fire destroyed two of the leading cars in the EV class and their car transporter in the pits during battery charging........

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... royed-fire

Important to note that those cars were not production cars, they were unique custom-built cars and, as such, are unlikely to be as sophisticated as production cars in terms of battery management and thermal control.

Andreas,

I think the EV Cars on that ship were box standard production cars!!

GTB

[Moriarty]

It does worry me, though. Not only the (low but potentially severe) risk of a spontaneous battery fire but also the risks from a collision that impacts on the battery cell. Petrol tank safety is well evolved and a known quantity, but the risks from these batteries seem much less predictable and the fires can be terrifying and almost impossible to extinguish.

I’m a complete layman, though, and happy to be corrected.

[Deleted User 5763]

It’s no wonder that car insurance costs are going up.

[andreas]

Andreas,

I think the EV Cars on that ship were box standard production cars!!

GTB

I was responding to GeeRam's posting of the Autocar article!

Try to keep up...

[GeeRam]

And on a similar theme.......

Last weekend's British round of the World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill was cancelled when a battery fire destroyed two of the leading cars in the EV class and their car transporter in the pits during battery charging........

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... royed-fire

Important to note that those cars were not production cars, they were unique custom-built cars and, as such, are unlikely to be as sophisticated as production cars in terms of battery management and thermal control.

Err, not quite.
They were using commercially supplied systems already in use in other production applications from Kreisel, as per the FIA statement for the cancellation, a lack of response from Kreisel being one of the reasons on safety grounds as to why FIA pulled the plug.
Ironically, one of the big things on the Kreisel website states 'no battery fires' - oops.. https://www.kreiselelectric.com/product ... y-systems/


The big issue with Lithium battery ignition is other than a complete dunking, the propagation is very hard to contain once it self combusts, which is why that cargo ship fire was difficult for the crew to contain with standard shipboard fire fighting techniques.

As such, it might be that Lloyds etc and shipping companies might start to get nervous about sea shipping of EV's, especially if this happens again, which could put a huge dent in EV sales and force factories to be established on every continent (which might be good for jobs etc though?) instead.

[Skyway]

And on a similar theme.......

Last weekend's British round of the World Rallycross Championship at Lydden Hill was cancelled when a battery fire destroyed two of the leading cars in the EV class and their car transporter in the pits during battery charging........

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... royed-fire

Important to note that those cars were not production cars, they were unique custom-built cars and, as such, are unlikely to be as sophisticated as production cars in terms of battery management and thermal control.

Surely in motorsport the level of sophistication is even higher than road vehicles?