Hyperdrive
Electric-Car Era Threatens Firefighters With New Road Risks
- NTSB investigating three fires on Tesla electric vehicles
- Damaged lithium-ion batteries are flammable, can self-ignite
Why Electric Cars Aren't Taking Over Yet
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Firefighters doused the blazing Tesla Inc. Model X’s battery pack, and then company engineers removed about one-quarter of its power cells before the vehicle was deemed safe to tow off of a California freeway.
That didn’t prevent the powerful and highly flammable lithium-ion battery cells from reigniting. The car caught fire twice more within 24 hours of the March 23 fatal crash, and again six days later, according to a safety bulletin from the fire department in Mountain View.