Emilia Romagna, electric and hybrid cars affected by the flood must be quarantined as a precaution. They could catch fire.
An electric car caught fire yesterday in a dealership in Ravenna, among the provinces most affected by the flood. It is no news that electric cars can catch fire in contact with water. Theoretically it shouldn’t happen because the batteries are enclosed in a sealed and insulated metal casing but it has already happened, even if there are numerous videos on the net that show the opposite.
High voltage batteries for automotive use are made of lithium and due to their particular functioning they can catch fire when they come into contact with water.
Following a storm which occurred in the USA in 2022, the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), a US government agency part of the Department of Transportation, he explained that water, in this case salty, has a high electrical conduction and can create “bridges”, which are the cause of short circuits and fires. NHTSA has asked vehicle owners to park water-exposed electric cars at least 50 feet away from homes and vehicles.
It is not obvious that they can catch fire but the causes of fire could be different: mechanical factors, therefore damage to the components, or thermal, internal short circuits.
At that point it is difficult to turn them off. According to tests, between 11,000 and 30,000 litres, always of water, are needed to prevent them from exploding. Extinguishing with water still seems to be the most practical solution, even if there are others considered safer. Salt water, on the other hand, as mentioned, could make the situation worse.
Because of the lithium-ion battery, the vehicle keeps re-igniting and sometimes burns with great insistence, given the particularity of the battery.
Switching off is something that is not simple because in the meantime it is necessary to recognize that the car that is burning is electric, then delimit the area, ascertain the electrical risk and cancel it if necessary in the most technically suitable way for the specificity of the car. Given the flooding of Romagna, the practice does not appear to be the most agile.
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