Here's What Happens When a "Green" Car Catches Fire
Are “green” cars really all that green? When a standard internal combustion engine vehicles catch fire, it’s never a good thing.
But like they use to say back in the Jazz Age, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
As noted by the Express news, when one of these planet-friendly green cars goes up in flames, all hell breaks loose.
Reporter Luke John Smith of the Express noted that when a Tesla Model S slammed into a concrete barrier on an Austrian motorway, everything got all “Gott im Himmel!” and “Überstürzen! Überstürzen!” rather quickly.
“Over 35 firefighters were required to extinguish the fire, according to Austrian news site ZeroHedge. The incident took place on the Ahlberg Expressway (S16) in Pians, at around 1pm on Tuesday,” Express reported.
Thankfully, the 19-year-old driver escaped unharmed. His car — not so much.
The Daily Mail explained the difficult situations firefighters experience when dealing with electrical fires, especially those of the motorized variety.
“Fire crews were forced to use special breathing kit while tackling the blaze, due to the toxic gases released by the burning lithium-ion battery. To stop the fire, the firefighters had to cool the battery, before cutting through the power supply with a circular saw.”
The Mail continued, “But this released huge clouds of smoke into the air, and meant the £50,000 ($69,000) car was completely written off. A statement from the Landeck fire service, who dealt with the blaze, said: ‘The fire fighting – which could only be carried out under severe respiratory protection – was difficult because the vehicle was repeatedly on fire.”
Even the everything-cars Jalopnik.com cited a translated press release for the volunteer firefighting team, Austria’s Feuerwehr-Landeck, which tackled the blaze.
“It was only after cutting the power supply from the high-performance batteries that it was possible to finally fight the fire. Since lithium batteries are used, the manufacturer recommends that the vehicle be parked under ‘quarantine’ for 48 hours, so that no new fire can break out,” the site reported.
Liberals here in the States are quite enamored with their supposed “green” and “eco-friendly” cars, despite the fact that green cars really aren’t all that green or eco-friendly after all.
Case in point would be that electrically-powered cars don’t pull electricity out of mid-air.
As I personally enjoy saying to a self-congratulating liberal crowing over buying a green car: “Oh, so you bought one of those coal-powered cars?”
Besides, I play the devil when it comes to throwing away used-up AAA batteries. Recycle, throw away, dump down the garbage disposal … who knows?
I just wonder what Tesla Model S owners will do when their 1,323 pounds-worth of batteries wear-out.
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