Source: Zero Hedge
As part of the great COVID reset, the transformation period has been a massive opportunity for lawmakers and corporations to push electric cars to the masses as they say these vehicles are “ESG-Friendly.”
We’ll save the mining part of minerals for electric batteries for an entirely different conversation. Today we want to focus on the amount of fresh water it takes to extinguish a fire in an electric car versus an internal combustion engine.
Last week, in Tainan City, Taiwan, firefighters used about 20 tons of water to extinguish a fire after a Tesla crashed and went up into flames.
Fire Captain Chiu Yuan-ming told Taiwan News that around three tons of water are required to extinguish an internal combustion engine fire. However, he noted, an enormous amount of water is needed to extinguish an electric vehicle fire.
The Tesla in question slammed into a residential building on Wednesday and burst into flames. The driver survived and was rescued before fire consumed the vehicle. There was no word if the Tesla vehicle was on Autopilot during the collision.
It took firefighters at least an hour to extinguish the fire spraying 20 tons of water on the Tesla.
Fire Captain Chiu pointed to research that said upwards of 75 tons of water are required to extinguish a Tesla fire. The reason is that the batteries are compacted with highly combustible lithium metal.
Another fire earlier this month in a Philadelphia suburb had firefighters spray a steady stream of water for more than 90 minutes on a Tesla Plaid that had caught fire under what was called “strange circumstances.”
Sales of electric vehicles are soaring worldwide, and firefighters have yet to have adequate training or equipment to put out a lithium battery fire quickly – so they waste 20-75 tons of water for a single-vehicle fire versus a combustion engine that only needs 3 tons.
Wasting tons and tons of water for electric vehicle fires is not ESG-Friendly, especially when parts of the world are experiencing vicious megadroughts.
