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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Appreciate the apology.

From that original link: "[b]The batteries were melting in the extreme heat[/b], Brown said, and the flammable metal was difficult to fully extinguish. Several dry-chemical fire extinguishers were used, along with “copious amounts of water to fully douse all flames and heat,” Brown said."

I work in an area that is routinely 110-120F. This isn't necessarily comparable to DC (!), but it is a reason why electric cars are not taking off here, and it's worth knowing that if we are discussing why people are not buying as many cars of that type in the US as you might expect. A lot of fires out here don't make it into the news. Neither do all deaths and disappearances, to be frank. It's pretty scary sometimes.

Another news article, this regarding Austin, Texas: https://www.driving.co.uk/uncategorised/firefighters-attending-tesla-blaze-use-forty-times-water/
"The liquid electrolyte within batteries is highly flammable and [b]when damaged by a crash or extreme heat[/b] can result in internal short-circuiting, which in turn results in a series of uncontrolled, violent chemical reactions known as thermal runaway. This releases huge quantities of energy and can be very difficult to stop." Note that crashes occur in places which more journalism coverage, but I'm not sure that's comparable to extreme heat issues.

I'm also in a charging dead zone. That may change, but it's not a high priority for anyone here right now. And it would be dangerous to be stranded in high desert, so people are going to focus on reliability for vehicles much more than efficiency. For now. :)[/quote]

I think they mean the high heat from the thermal run-off reaction. Honestly, I dont think the external temperature bears any risk on battery safety.

If what you say is true that electric car batteries spontaneuously ignite in desert weather, for sure there would be some recalls. I'm not convinced from your links that this is the case. Another anecdotal evidence, where I live, it's not desert but summer is usually 100 F almost every day, still not as hot as your situations. I've never heard of cars catching fire spontaneously. I also follow Tesla news fairly closely because I invested in their stock, and these things just dont happen that often.

Here is a link describing the same event from your own link in much different terms, and the fire was caused by hitting a tree.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36189237/tesla-model-s-fire-texas-crash-details-fire-chief/

It even provides a statistical estimate that Teslas are 10 times less likely to catch fire compared to gas cars, and that includes collitions.

Look up accident data if you'd like, Tesla is very transparent about it, unlike most other auto manufacturers.
https://www.tesla.com/VehicleSafetyReport?redirect=no
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