It’s not easy being green-ish:
As promised, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) looked into the safety of lithium batteries after a Chevrolet Volt caught fire back in May. After conducting three different tests two weeks ago, the NHTSA found that the Volt’s battery either caught fire or began to smoke in two out of the three.
General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt underwent several tests in a NHTSA Wisconsin facility earlier this year. On May 12, 2011, it experienced the side-impact crash test. Three weeks later, the plug-in electric vehicle (EV) caught fire while parked in the NHTSA testing center.
The fire, which was fierce enough to burn other vehicles parked nearby, prompted an investigation of the Chevrolet Volt and the safety of lithium batteries.
The NHTSA conducted side-impact crash tests for the Chevrolet Volt on November 16, 17 and 18. After each test, the batteries of the three separate Volts were then rotated 180 degrees. Out of the three tests, two resulted in fire, smoke or sparks while one remained normal.
The November 16 test had normal results, while the November 17 test led to a battery fire one week later and the November 18 test caused the battery to smoke and emit sparks. The battery packs of the three Volts were not drained after any of the crashes.
The results have led to a formal investigation of the safety of the Chevrolet Volt and its lithium battery.
[…]
NHTSA and GM have both said that they are unaware of any battery-related fires caused by roadway crashes involving customers. However, NHTSA advised EV owners to remain cautious in the event of a crash as they would in a gasoline or diesel-fueled vehicle. The NHTSA’s advice includes stepping out of the car and moving away from it while contacting authorities. When responders arrive, they are to check for markings that it is an EV and use large amounts of water on the vehicle if there are any signs of a fire. They are to then contact experts at the vehicle’s manufacturer on how to discharge a propulsion battery.
And if you’re in a crash where you’re trapped in the electric vehicle with the super efficient lithium battery that will help save the earth despite being, well, a battery?
Pray to Gaia that the stupid thing doesn’t spark up and roast your selfless green ass. Meanwhile, the Government and its green industry apparatchiks appreciate your service to the cause.
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related.
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update: More, from Warner Todd Houston
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update 2: From Ronnie Schrieber, who notes that some reports, including the one cited in my post, have gotten the particulars wrong:
I’ve been covering the Chevy Volt fire stories for PJLifestyle and my own site, Cars In Depth. While I’ve been exploiting the story for the purpose of getting traffic, I’ve tried to be careful about balance and accuracy. Unfortunately, a lot of reaction from the dextroblogosphere about these fires has been inaccurate and hyperbolic. The article from DailyTech that you quoted got part of the story wrong. The followup tests done two weeks ago were not crash tests of intact Chevy Volts. Two out of three crash tested Volts did not catch fire. One crash tested Volt caught fire and then NHTSA did some followup tests. They were tests on the batteries themselves that were designed to replicate the original conditions that led to the fire in the crash tested Volt. That Volt had undergone a side 20 mph impact into a pole, followed by a rollover test. To replicate those conditions, three battery packs were damaged by impact, the battery coolant lines were cut (the Volt has a sophisticated battery temperature and conditioning management system and its battery pack is liquid cooled) and then the batteries were inverted 180 degrees (i.e. turned upside down). Two of those three batteries had “thermal events”, one caught fire, another started sparking, and the third did nothing.
In other words, they weren’t testing the Volts to see if the batteries would be damaged, they tested the batteries to test what would happen in the event that a collision ended up damaging and inverting the battery pack. I suppose that they should be doing a test without inverting the batteries, to see if physical damage and cutting the coolant lines will lead to “thermal events” whether or not the battery is inverted, but right now, as it appears, if there is a fire hazard, it’s only in the rare case that there is a collision that is bad enough to penetrate the battery pack, damage the coolant lines, and roll over the car.
What Law of Unintended Consequences? That’s not government approved Science or Math, is it the h8rs going on about that Constitution thing? Oh well, back to work you units, the People need those unicorn methane plants.
We just need to start mandating fire-proof driving apparel, apparently.
They are to then contact experts at the vehicle’s manufacturer on how to discharge a propulsion battery
First Responder #1: How do we ground this thing? Call Wesley Mooch, 1-800-RETIRE50? Wesley we …. Sorry, Sub-Deputy Assistant Regional Coordinator Mooch, how do we ground this thing? Excuse me? Guys, are we on a freeway or a highway? Don’t pull that person out yet, we need to fill out a DOT-32K first, if we’re on a highway. (into phone) Did I say guys? Well maybe, I think yes I may have. We need an emergency sexual harassment seminar and you have a fast response team helicoptering in? OK. But we’ve got this guy dying over here.. Yes. Yes, he’s a man.
First Responder #2. Screw this, I’m saving that gu…person. Pppppzzzzzzttttt!!!! Drop. Sizzle.
First Responder #1: Never mind. Oh, we still need the emergency sexual harassment seminar? We’ll wait.
Not to be distracted by these (at most) inconsequential conflagrations, taxpayers in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan are now paying for the electricity used at a recently installed charging station for the Volt at a township carpool lot.
Its free people! How much could an occasional fire really hurt?
Perhaps it’s all a ploy to make us ride busses and high speed trains!
Electricity that comes out of a wall socket is free, and no pollution was introduced to produce it.
Haters.
I never understood how environmentalists think mandating mercury in our light bulbs and car batteries by the metric ton would be good for the environment.
I guess in a few years, when an alarming percentage of our fresh water is contaminated by mercury and battery waste, there will be another crisis to exploit.
Yep, there’s a plan all right… they’ll convert us to electric cars and then outlaw the batteries.
Gee, sounds like a nasty “current delivery” problem, boys…
Don’t worry — they’re balancing it out by demanding all bullets be lead-free.
So when do the new DU ones come out?
Uh huh, rare.
Except for every episode of all those shows where they play video clips.
I saw a car upside down in the ditch a couple of weeks ago. There were 3 fire trucks, 2 CHP cruisers, an ambulance, and a sheriffs dept car there.
That response to a rare event was impressive.
its amazing the stupidity that gov’t money buys
Where’s Ralph Nader? We need him to save us from this menace.
Nader is the genesis, the godfather, of the menace.
I think we can probably eliminate “roll the car” from that equation since “damage the coolant lines” and “penetrate the battery pack” sounds sufficient to this engineer to generate a “thermal event”.
Seriously if you need a “sophisticated battery temperature and conditioning management system” with liquid coolant on your battery, it is running too hot not to pose a fire hazard.
Although LBascom’s assessment about rollover accidents not being exactly rare also applies.
Seriously, accidents resulting in vehicle fires are terrifying and often fatal if people get trapped. If there is even a 1% chance that the Volt’s powerplant is more fire-prone than a traditional automobile in the event of an accident (even an accident with a rare confluence of conditions), then that’s too much.
Meh. Just get NBC to look into the fiery crashes. I’m pretty sure they have top men that are experts in this problem.
If Nader were truly the champion of safety that he has long touted himself to be, he’d be at the forefront of a 60 minutes type investigation. But, he’s more of a preening whore, so I won’t hold my breath.
I miss my mom’s Corvair.
“Seriously, accidents resulting in vehicle fires are terrifying and often fatal if people get trapped.”
And that’s not even talking about a fire where the smoke carries toxic battery vapors…
“And that’s not even talking about a fire where the smoke carries toxic battery vapors…”
Nothing matches the satisfaction of watching your family die of ARDS due to toxic smoke inhalation because you decided to buy a smart car.
You did it for Gaia! And you’re doing your part to reduce the human burden on the planet.
I did laboratory testing on some of the major components of the electrical system of the Volt while it was in development. These parts ran hot under lab conditions at normal loads. When we did overload situations the heat was incredibly high. I was laid off before testing was completed, it appears that they decided to water cool rather than ‘solve the problem’.