Bayou

Indeed. I once saw a tiny LI laptop battery ignite when its case was punctured. It was pretty astonishing to witness.

BebuLamar

I am poor so there is no EV nor Hybrid for me.

Canisdirus

I bought a nice electric bike that would serve my needs for photography.
I wanted something that could go...almost anywhere...and I found one...it was cheap enough that I would not care if I liked it or not.

I liked it...a lot. Very responsive...especially in the low end...for pasture and gully travel.

But I looked into lithium mining...and was shocked. So shocked I gave my new bike to one of my cousins...just gave it to him.

That lasted a few months...the wife pointed out I still had a problem of travel.

Darn it...I bit the bullet twice now...bought another ebike ...same kind.

Now... storage is an issue with these batteries...they can burn you down...quick.

I keep the batteries in this storage box fire proof bag...it will contain the fire for a time. I also keep the batteries in a separate building ... on tile.

I plan on purchasing the Zarges K470 Aluminum Case at some point...just to be sure.

But the bike works... baskets front and back allows me to pack 40 lbs of gear...with no worries...bike doesn't even notice the weight.
Deflate the fat tires... and it goes anywhere...soft as a lamb...electronics safe and padded.

Heh...my cousin felt guilty...told him to forget it...told him we'll go for a bike ride next time he visits.

Due diligence with the batteries folks...you risk it all...if you do not.

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

We got our 5th Subaru this past Fall. It’s a Crosstrek Sport. I considered the hybrid version but the trade-offs were ridiculous. It would have cost $9000 more with a loss of cargo space for the batteries. It would have given us 14 non-gas miles.
I watch a lot of car shows. I saw one episode of Chasing Classic Cars. Apparently, electric cars have been around for a very long time. There were several different brands.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy an EV until the range was at least 500 miles with non-flammable batteries.
My 2018 Legacy gets 34 + or - mpg with an 18.5 gallon tank. I can go roughly 550-600 miles on a tank.
Perhaps nuclear fusion engines for cars will some day be developed but probably not in my lifetime and not without the big oil companies trying to suppress the technology.

autofocus Loc: North Central Connecticut

As "they" jam this technology down our throats, and we know who "they" are there are many things they are not telling us! Much of that has already been mentioned above, but it is worth reiterating.
- The electrolyte in lithium batteries is very flammable. Fires caused by these batteries are explosive and very scary, and very difficult to extinguish! Pity the poor firemen, or if you happened to be the poor soul trapped in one after an accident!
- all rechargeable batteries will eventually reach a point when they will no longer charge making a replacement the only solution. And when that happens, say after 7-8 years, the car at that point may be worthless being that the cost of the battery replacement may be more than the car is worth. I heard stories of a Tesla replacement battery costing 22,000 dollars. One would be nuts to buy an older used EV that never had it's battery replaced first.
- Then there's the strip mining that's taking place for the needed rare earth materials, and much of it being done by child labor...where's the outcry from the environmentalists, and the human rights groups?!
- much of the batteries, and needed material to make the batteries comes from countries that we'd be hard put to consider as "friends" today, and could very well be our enemies tomorrow, an absolute strategic mistake, and our entire t***sportation future could hinge on it!
- when fully spent, all these batteries will rot in landfills further polluting the soil and water supply!
- our grid and infrastructure will not be able to support this massive swing to EV's. And this demand on the grid will probably create brownouts, and maybe even fires. Are you listening California?
- And finally, how will all these car batteries be charged...by f****l f**led electric companies, and that will continue for decades into the future.

If I owned one of these, I'd be afraid to park it in my garage, let alone charge it there!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Such nonsense. Anyone can easily educate themselves via Google searches of relevant material, if they are interested in learning the full story about any developing technologies.

Regarding California, "One key goal - that all new cars and light trucks sold in the state be electric by 2035...As part of the 2035 electric car mandate, car companies basically need to gradually electrify their fleet of new vehicles. So beginning with 2026 models, that means 35% of all new vehicles sold have to be electric. That increases to 68% by 2030, until finally reaching 100% in 2035. So to prepare, the state is investing in a lot of clean energy projects, more public charging stations and t***smission line upgrades and that buildout." From here.

As Bill Burk stated re deadlines, "we have to start somewhere." That is, if you care about future generations of human beings.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

One thing folks need to keep in perspective is that everything is a game of numbers.

Sure, the six year old iPhone on my desk could explode at any minute and burn my house down. But think about that — How many billions and billions of iDevices (iPods, iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, Watches...) has Apple sold in the last 23 years, and how many of them have sparked fires? How many lithium battery-powered devices from other manufacturers have sparked fires? Hmmm?

In all cases, that number is very, very low, compared with the number of devices sold. Of the 2.5 million Samsung S7 phones recalled for Lithium battery hazards, only a small number actually caught fire. But they made headlines all over the world. According to the US CPSC in 2016, Samsung had "received 92 reports of the batteries overheating in the US, including 26 reports of burns and 55 reports of property damage, including fires in cars and a garage". Too many? Yes, ONE is too many. Did they learn valuable lessons from that fiasco and improve their quality control? Absolutely!

Yes, even one fire is a Very Bad Thing, especially if it harms or k**ls someone. But life is unsafe. Corvairs turned over for Ralph Nader in the 1960s. Ford Pintos exploded for NBC News in the 1970s. Hell, my sister-in-law practically sneezed and rolled her Suburban over when she jerked the wheel. No one was hurt, thankfully!

Electric vehicles typically have a very low center of gravity, because the batteries are under the floorboard. They are less likely to roll over as a result.

When I was 16 and freshly licensed, I was headed to the neighborhood pool in my 1960 Valiant, with two cute girls in bikinis beside me. We decided that taking the shortcut, a dirt farm road that led to the back parking lot of the pool, was a good idea. But a storm had washed out part of it, leaving ruts in some of the tire tracks.

My left front tire hit one of those ruts. We heard a loud POP, the car stalled, and suddenly the cabin was filling up with smoke from under the solid metal dash. The tie-down rod holding the 12-Volt battery in place had rusted through, and snapped. The entire wiring harness somehow got shorted and the insulation caught fire! (That whole car WAS a d********g piece of Mopar rust...)

We bailed, ran the rest of the way to the pool, and I had to call my parents, who were ten hours away, at a funeral. Imagine how THAT went over! I never outlived that incident... Friends teased me about it for years.

The car didn't burn up, but the wiring harness repair was expensive, and I had to help pay for it with savings from my summer job. Have I worried about a repeat? Never. It was a freak accident. But I have reinforced metal battery tie-down straps with thick zip ties in all my cars, ever since!

We worry about so many things that are unlikely to affect us, and fail to worry about things we should. Manufacturers spend millions on safety research and testing. Do they miss things sometimes? Sure. Do stupid users use things stupidly and get themselves in trouble? Guilty as charged, your honor!

Countries and companies still build rockets to send things and people into space. It's a risky venture, but despite the overt cost, the opportunity costs of space programs, and the very real danger of meteor strikes and burning up on launch or re-entry, we still do it. The risk seems worth the reward.

Yes, the risk of battery fires is real. The risk of a house fire resulting from a car's leaky fuel line sending gasoline vapors into the gas hot water heater in the corner of a garage is real, too. More than a few house fires have started that way, or from a leaky mower or gasoline can stored in a garage near a gas hot water heater.

Perspective: We all need a little more of it. Gotta go call my insurance company...

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

There's a powerful pull from echo chambers and clickbait headlines

Along with your space exploration example, think of all the technological advances of the last 100 years. Mind-boggling! If there is money to be made, someone will find a way. And our blue planet will thank us.

clickety

Just curious, when did you drink the’cool-aid’?

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

There are pluses and minuses to owning an EV. On the plus side, it is difficult for the bad guys to car-jack a vehicle, or use one when committing a crime, which might run low on battery while trying to get away.

On the minus side is that you will be a sitting duck at the charging station for the long amount of time it takes to charge the EV and the bad guys will see an easy target that may have things of value compared to someone getting gas in their old gas guzzler.

BebuLamar

It would be easier to use an EV as the get away car. You don't have to have the engine running which attracts attention but you can simply step on the pedal and go and yes the EV tends to have very good acceleration. You don't rob a bank with an empty car gas or electric.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, would-be American oligarchs want a f*****t society that favors their fortunes. They bankroll TV and talk radio networks, create "PR" agencies to post falsehoods on FaceTwit, run bot sites to spread h**e and d******e lies, and donate millions to political candidates. They've created many echo chambers of false narratives that have sucked a quarter of our population down rabbit holes of delusions.

Yes, the Internet has democratized communications. The danger is that that may yet lead to f*****m.

Get your news from a wide array of sources, folks. If you can't argue the other side's point of view better than they can, you're probably missing their point, and reality at large.

lbrande

This is called Social Engineering. Being told what to purchase by the government.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If you have a choice, don't park near an EV. 😉

BebuLamar

You don't have a choice in some cases. There are places the EV have their own parking spaces.