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Disaster at sea

One sailor dead and 22 injured. Very sad sight.

I wonder what might have caused the fire. Faulty EV battery?
 
Possibly, given the number of electrical gremlins in new vehicles generally, it's almost inevitable one will appear in the main batteries or their circuits eventually. Not sure it's VAG, do they ship from Bremerhaven? Thought it all came from Emden (to anywhere in the world)?
 
RockinNRollin said:
Possibly, given the number of electrical gremlins in new vehicles generally, it's almost inevitable one will appear in the main batteries or their circuits eventually. Not sure it's VAG, do they ship from Bremerhaven? Thought it all came from Emden (to anywhere in the world)?
Click to expand...
Not VW Commercial. They depart from Emden. Apparently it was on its way to Port Said in Egypt.
 
Seen some pictures of Porsche cars being loaded at Bremerhaven so maybe VAG cars (amongst others)?
 
As an ex seaman, that’s also been on a ships that have had fires, I really feel for the crew. If all they have are water hoses they really don’t stand a chance to control a battery fire, if that’s what it turns out to be. As production of EVs accelerates, it’s likely there will be more serious fires where numbers of EVs are transported together. I’m not sure what the best fire fighting solution is?
 
Hawthorn37 said:
As an ex seaman, that’s also been on a ships that have had fires, I really feel for the crew. If all they have are water hoses they really don’t stand a chance to control a battery fire, if that’s what it turns out to be. As production of EVs accelerates, it’s likely there will be more serious fires where numbers of EVs are transported together. I’m not sure what the best fire fighting solution is?
Click to expand...

Reading one of the press reports it seems they need to use a large amount of water to cool down the fire & they are concerned that the quantity needed will actually sink the ship.

I had assumed that if its below deck the ship would be compartmentalised & they would just flood that compartment rather than use hoses on it. If its above deck need to get it overboard somehow!

Interesting that they seem to be sure its an electric car thats started it despite there being only 25 electric cars on board what looks to be a pretty large ship.

Does make you think a bit - what would happen on say the ferry to Spain if that sort of fire broke out, mass evacuation to the Lifeboats & a huge rescue operation.
 
Hawthorn37 said:
As an ex seaman, that’s also been on a ships that have had fires, I really feel for the crew. If all they have are water hoses they really don’t stand a chance to control a battery fire, if that’s what it turns out to be. As production of EVs accelerates, it’s likely there will be more serious fires where numbers of EVs are transported together. I’m not sure what the best fire fighting solution is?
Click to expand...
Worst case…

IMG_5975.jpegIMG_5974.jpegIMG_6018.jpegIMG_6014.jpeg
 
andyinluton said:
Reading one of the press reports it seems they need to use a large amount of water to cool down the fire & they are concerned that the quantity needed will actually sink the ship.

I had assumed that if its below deck the ship would be compartmentalised & they would just flood that compartment rather than use hoses on it. If its above deck need to get it overboard somehow!

Interesting that they seem to be sure its an electric car thats started it despite there being only 25 electric cars on board what looks to be a pretty large ship.

Does make you think a bit - what would happen on say the ferry to Spain if that sort of fire broke out, mass evacuation to the Lifeboats & a huge rescue operation.
Click to expand...
My guess is that they have loaded the EVs in one area/ recorded where they are, and the crew have either had eyes on, or cctv confirmed an EV on fire.
 
This all raises an interesting point, so in the model world we use LiPo batteries that are quite volatile, so all the airlines refused to carry them because of the fire risk. Now it's looking likely that shipping will go the same way for EV cars. I assume that's why we need battery factories in each country. The real issues is if you crash an EV car abroad, I have heard that the battery must be removed before it's shipped, this causes a real problem for owners........
 
Trojax said:
This all raises an interesting point, so in the model world we use LiPo batteries that are quite volatile, so all the airlines refused to carry them because of the fire risk. Now it's looking likely that shipping will go the same way for EV cars. I assume that's why we need battery factories in each country. The real issues is if you crash an EV car abroad, I have heard that the battery must be removed before it's shipped, this causes a real problem for owners........
Click to expand...
And at what point do they become a danger on a ferry or even going on le shuttle?
 
And we've all seen the fires caused by ebikes! They get imported too.
 
GrumpyGranddad said:
Seen some pictures of Porsche cars being loaded at Bremerhaven so maybe VAG cars (amongst others)?
Click to expand...
Cargo included 350 Mercs and almost 500 EVs. Final destination Taiwan.
 
well that 1 electric car has caused an environmental disaster. tyhats why the mainsteam media is quiet on this. i wish we coukd stop all this virtue signalling over these things. i do wonder if they will be banned from ferries etc too ?
 
`These fires are rare, much less so than ICE vehicles but way more problematic to effectively extinguish, the first time never mind stay out. EV fires on ferries are an issue not talked about except by some people, there are few ways to deal with these fire effectively on a packed vehicle ferry as yet !
This guy was involved in the set up of the Nissan leaf battery factory and involved with research into EV fires. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/updat...date:(V2,urn:li:activity:7089852959861166081)
 
flying banana said:
well that 1 electric car has caused an environmental disaster. tyhats why the mainsteam media is quiet on this. i wish we coukd stop all this virtue signalling over these things. i do wonder if they will be banned from ferries etc too ?
Click to expand...
Banned on a Norwegian ferry already.
maritime-executive.com

Havila Bans Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Transport Due to Fire Danger

Havila Kystruten, which operates coastal passenger service in Norway aboard its fleet of newly built RoPax ships, is changing the rules for the transp...
maritime-executive.com maritime-executive.com
 
Anthony1 said:
Cargo included 350 Mercs and almost 500 EVs. Final destination Taiwan.
Click to expand...
The Freemantle Highway was in Portbury Bristol on the 19th July before it set sail for Europe.
 
Solid state batteries are around the corner and as well as providing 700+ mile range will eliminate most of the current fire risk. Whichever way you cut it EV’s are the future at least for personal transport in family / smaller vehicles. My wife has an e-up and it’s immeasurably better in all areas than any other small car we have owned, even the 130 mile range just isn’t a problem for us as a second car. And as a petrol head this is a hard admission to make!
 
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