Comment by 🦔 bsj38381

I still don't get EV sometimes, not helping that Teslas and Cybertrucks suddenly bursting into flames don't calm my nerves either, I rather have a 5 year old car at that point.

Oct 26 · 2 months ago

6 Later Comments ↓

Here's how it makes sense: fewer moving parts. Change tires, brakes, and windshield wipers. Fuel up at home. If you have solar panels you're also producing your own fuel. (Excludes apartment dwellers and people who park on street.)

The fire risk is overblown in my opinion. Any vehicle has a fire risk with Ford recalling 700,000 vehicles 6 days ago, BMW recalling 200,000 vehicles last month, GM recalling 60,000 back in June, etc etc etc. There's tons of these every year, so many that my advise to avoid a car fire is to ride a bike.

Fire risk is actually greatly understated, because: capitalism. A large number of NYC fire-related deaths stems from people charging scooters at home. Lithium batteries ignite often with no warning and within seconds thick toxic smoke fills the contained space killing you. In a car, if the electric lock does not unlock, you have maybe 10 seconds left for a prayer.

The car may ignite spontaneously months after hitting a speed bump too fast and creating an invisible crack in the battery casing. Air ignites lithium.

The fire cannot be put out with conventional means as lithium burns in water (and underwater). After extinguishing the flames, the car needs to be kept in a special area as it will often reignite. Most fire departments lack equipment and training to fight lithium fires

Gasoline fires are terrible, but nothing like lithium fires.

I would never, ever buy a lithium car and try not to park near one.

Also, who in their right mind wants to fund Elon? Or move the ignition of hydrocarbons to an area where poor people live, so you can pretend to be green? A gasoline car contains a power plant, while an electric car is split so you don't see the stack spewing crap into the atmosphere, and generally ignore that the battery efficiency is far from 100% especially when it's cold.

It is a perfect lie for people who want to feel good about polluting.

The scientist in me just wants to correct one little point: lithium does not ignite in air. The danger from the lithium nickel manganese cobalt batteries is in the electrolyte, which produces hydrogen gas in the event of a short, either through dendrite formation or puncture. This is what creates swollen batteries and why they must be carefully disposed of, which is a lot harder when it is the size of a car and several tons.

Lithium metal will oxidize in air but not combust.

There's a new saying based on an old one. It is about how many hours of your wage you spend on making someone else wealthy. How long did you spend enriching a billionaire this year? I think of it when Elon is mentioned now.

I'm now wishing there's air powered cars, or even nuclear powered cars.

I recall there was something about compressed air cars. They recharged via electricity powering an air compressor.

Provlem is, the power output decreases as pressure decreases. This effect is minor in EVs and nonexistent in fossil vehicles. Plus the whole compressed air thing, which is scary.

Nuclear would be dangerous too. The "safest" is a thermoelectric generator powered by heat from isotopic decay. The Soviets used TEGs first for kerosene radios in rural areas and later for nuclear light houses in extremely remote areas. NASA uses them for deep space probes. They don't generate much power though. Maybe a few hundred watts. You'd still need a battery, but maybe you could manage with a lower capacity lead acid battery.

Thank you for the correction. I thought it was maybe the moisture in the air, but hydrogen makes a lot more sense.

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