[News] Luton Airport fire

[Greg Bobkin]

Average battery is about 500kg……..Tesla Model Y battery is over 700kg !

Another negative thing about what is, IMHO, a truly AWFUL vehicle.

 

[swindonseagull]

No. A big fack off battery pack (and electric motors and other gubbins) is heavier than the engine it replaces. Another side effect is that tyres don't last as long as they did on ICE cars.

And the tyres are bigger to spread the load therefore more expensive, bloke at work just had new tyres after 12k, my ev has done 8k so I better keep an eye on them, ( company car so won’t cost)

 

[swindonseagull]

Average battery is about 500kg……..Tesla Model Y battery is over 700kg !

That’s like carrying @AmexRuislip wallet around.

 

[AmexRuislip]

That’s like carrying @AmexRuislip wallet around.

Ouch that hurts

 

[GOM]

No. A big fack off battery pack (and electric motors and other gubbins) is heavier than the engine it replaces. Another side effect is that tyres don't last as long as they did on ICE cars.

So much misinformation, where do you get it from, the Sun or the Daily Mail. A Tesla model 3 weighs no more than a BMW 5 series, should we ban all cars over 1800 kg.
Complete fallacy tyres wear out quicker. Drive any car like a boy racer and you'll wear them out, drive normally they last just as long.
Why don't you check facts before writing nonsense.

 

[HillBarnTillIDie]

Given this one seems to have started from an ICE vehicle, why are EVs more of a concern for you ?

Also, I thought the general move was to have EVs parked on lower levels due to their significant additional weight which hasn’t been accounted for in car park design ?

Modern cars are designed quite well to prevent fire. Obviously they are not perfect, but considering the amount of cars around, you don’t see many fires and the services are very well equipped to deal with this sort of scenario.

The thing with an EV fire is that it burns hotter…. and develops very quickly, so when they go, you don’t want to be anywhere near.
There is a video floating around of an electric bus in Paris going up… it’s rapid, and in that case, the bus looks like a roman candle firework spraying white hot chemicals everywhere.

The fire brigade have released numerous statements about the difficulty of putting out electricity fires. It nigh on impossible without specialist equipment. You just have to let them burn out. So yes, I would class this as a cause for concern.

 

[Bob!]

So much misinformation, where do you get it from, the Sun or the Daily Mail. A Tesla model 3 weighs no more than a BMW 5 series, should we ban all cars over 1800 kg.
.....

Yes.
Yes please.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

So much misinformation, where do you get it from, the Sun or the Daily Mail. A Tesla model 3 weighs no more than a BMW 5 series, should we ban all cars over 1800 kg.
Complete fallacy tyres wear out quicker. Drive any car like a boy racer and you'll wear them out, drive normally they last just as long.
Why don't you check facts before writing nonsense.

That's nice, dear. Only a Model 3 is roughly the same size as a BMW 3er (and weighs more) so if hope it WOULD weigh less than the larger 5-Series.

As for 'facts', I can dig out a couple of recent press releases I got about increased tyre wear in EVs - including survey data - in the morning if you like. Or maybe point you in the directon of the manufacturers who are working on EV-specific tyres that, guess what, try and limit wear! I wonder why that would be...

And I might write nonsense, but at least I know when to use a question mark!

 

[beorhthelm]

That's nice, dear. Only a Model 3 is roughly the same size as a BMW 3er (and weighs more) so if hope it WOULD weigh less than the larger 5-Series.

As for 'facts', I can dig out a couple of recent press releases I got about increased tyre wear in EVs - including survey data - in the morning if you like. Or maybe point you in the directon of the manufacturers who are working on EV-specific tyres that, guess what, try and limit wear! I wonder why that would be...

And I might write nonsense, but at least I know when to use a question mark!

to be fair, that's probably so they can sell a "EV spec" tyre at twice the price to the affluent EV owner market.

 

[dsr-burnley]

My brother tells me that once a fire is hot enough to burn the metal of cars, then a water sprinkler would just spread it, not put it out. Regardless of what sort of engine it has. (He's not a fireman but he was a tube driver so he has done fire training.)

My next door neighbour's diesel van spontaneously went up in the middle of the night a decade or two back. No apparent reason but the firemen weren't astonished. Fortunately the house didn't catch fire, and also fortunately I remembered correctly where reverse gear was in my mother's car when I was reversing it out of the way! With the driver's door wide open and no seat belt, I hasten to add!

 

[Greg Bobkin]

to be fair, that's probably so they can sell a "EV spec" tyre at twice the price to the affluent EV owner market.

The 'affluent EV owner market' is tiny. The overwhelming majority of EV drivers are from fleet/business, who acquire their vehicles on a lease via a company car or Salary Sacrifice scheme.

 

[nicko31]

That's nice, dear. Only a Model 3 is roughly the same size as a BMW 3er (and weighs more) so if hope it WOULD weigh less than the larger 5-Series.

As for 'facts', I can dig out a couple of recent press releases I got about increased tyre wear in EVs - including survey data - in the morning if you like. Or maybe point you in the directon of the manufacturers who are working on EV-specific tyres that, guess what, try and limit wear! I wonder why that would be...

And I might write nonsense, but at least I know when to use a question mark!

Tyres wear mostly when people floor it, 15k miles on my EV and tyres wearing just like any other car.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

So much misinformation, where do you get it from, the Sun or the Daily Mail. A Tesla model 3 weighs no more than a BMW 5 series, should we ban all cars over 1800 kg.
Complete fallacy tyres wear out quicker. Drive any car like a boy racer and you'll wear them out, drive normally they last just as long.
Why don't you check facts before writing nonsense.

"EV tyres lasting 6,350 miles fewer than petrol or diesel, fleet data shows

Tyres fitted to electric vehicles (EVs) are lasting, on average, 6,350 fewer miles than those fitted to petrol or diesel cars, new fleet data from epyx suggests.
The first tyre change for electric cars is taking place at an average of 17,985 miles and 551 days old, compared to 24,641 miles and 585 days for hybrids, and 24,335 and 670 days for petrol and diesel cars.
The data is taken from epyx’s 1link Service Network platform, which is used by car and van fleets totalling more than four million vehicles to manage and process SMR.
Previous information released by the company in March also suggested that EV tyres are both bigger and more expensive than petrol or diesel equivalents. The average replacement tyre fitted to an EV was 18.59 inches and cost £207 while, for petrol and diesel cars, the corresponding figures were 17.40 inches and £130.
Tim Meadows, chief commercial officer at epyx, said: “We’ve explained before that our data in this area needs to be approached with a degree of caution because of the samples involved. Most EVs operated by fleets tend to be at least the size of a family hatchback with comparatively few smaller vehicles yet available, so the electric cars on our platform tend to skew towards larger models.
“However, even bearing that in mind, both the new data and the figures we have released previously do seem to suggest that EV tyres are wearing faster and are more expensive to replace. There is no denying that 6,350 miles and £77 are quite significant gaps, and EV tyres are undoubtedly costing fleets more money in real world terms at the moment.” Source: epyx

"Increased weight [of EVs] means longer braking distance, instant torque means high tyre wear" Source: Continental Tyres

Source: ATS Euromaster

So, there you go. Not a DM or Sun article in sight. Hope that helps

 

[GOM]

"EV tyres lasting 6,350 miles fewer than petrol or diesel, fleet data shows

Tyres fitted to electric vehicles (EVs) are lasting, on average, 6,350 fewer miles than those fitted to petrol or diesel cars, new fleet data from epyx suggests.
The first tyre change for electric cars is taking place at an average of 17,985 miles and 551 days old, compared to 24,641 miles and 585 days for hybrids, and 24,335 and 670 days for petrol and diesel cars.
The data is taken from epyx’s 1link Service Network platform, which is used by car and van fleets totalling more than four million vehicles to manage and process SMR.
Previous information released by the company in March also suggested that EV tyres are both bigger and more expensive than petrol or diesel equivalents. The average replacement tyre fitted to an EV was 18.59 inches and cost £207 while, for petrol and diesel cars, the corresponding figures were 17.40 inches and £130.
Tim Meadows, chief commercial officer at epyx, said: “We’ve explained before that our data in this area needs to be approached with a degree of caution because of the samples involved. Most EVs operated by fleets tend to be at least the size of a family hatchback with comparatively few smaller vehicles yet available, so the electric cars on our platform tend to skew towards larger models.
“However, even bearing that in mind, both the new data and the figures we have released previously do seem to suggest that EV tyres are wearing faster and are more expensive to replace. There is no denying that 6,350 miles and £77 are quite significant gaps, and EV tyres are undoubtedly costing fleets more money in real world terms at the moment.” Source: epyx

"Increased weight [of EVs] means longer braking distance, instant torque means high tyre wear" Source: Continental Tyres

Source: ATS Euromaster

So, there you go. Not a DM or Sun article in sight. Hope that helps

Well try this then, there is always more than one side to every story.

Do EVs produce more pollution? | RAC Drive

It's been claimed that EVs produce more pollution from brakes and tyres than those on the petrol and diesel cars they are replacing. Read our guide.

www.rac.co.uk

I don't suppose any anti-EVers will want to know the truth about EVs and all the misinformation and bull being spread as, they seem to have their own agenda but for anyone who wants to learn a little more, from experts and including fleet managers that run 1000s of electric vehicles I recommend this video.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Well try this then, there is always more than one side to every story.

Do EVs produce more pollution? | RAC Drive

It's been claimed that EVs produce more pollution from brakes and tyres than those on the petrol and diesel cars they are replacing. Read our guide.

www.rac.co.uk

I don't suppose any anti-EVers will want to know the truth about EVs and all the misinformation and bull being spread as, they seem to have their own agenda but for anyone who wants to learn a little more, from experts and including fleet managers that run 1000s of electric vehicles I recommend this video.

Really? Because when I put another 'side', you accused me of peddling misinformation, accusing me of not checking my facts (unlikely, given I'm a journalist) and getting my information from RW media. When, in reality, I speak to people every day who either drive EVs, run fleets of EVs or supply vehicles and charging equipment to the industry. I'm open to both 'sides' of the debate – and am fully behind the cars in terms of a future form of propulsion – but that doesn't mean there are huge issues and barriers to transitioning to EV that need sorting pronto (I actually think this was one of the reasons Sunak put back the 2030 new ICE ban that his party had introduced because the charging infrastructure is not fit for purpose and they knew it still wouldn't be by the deadline). Two of those barriers are weight and tyre wear (or vehicle behaviour), before you even get into the costs of the cars themselves.

And yes, as I said, the anti-EV mob will put their fingers in their ears to any 'facts' about EVs, because they will continue to spout any argument at all against EVs, regardless of if there's any truth in it. I don't need Quentin Willson, the fella from Red Dwarf or the CEO of a brand that is entrenched in the EV space to tell me about them, either, because theirs isn't exactly a subjective point of view.

On the plus side, an EV did give me the opportunity to shoehorn 'Brighton and Hove Albion's Ansu Fati' into an article, which was nice.

Anyway, this conversation has veered miles away from a diesel car starting a fire in a car park in Luton...

 

[Greg Bobkin]

So much misinformation, where do you get it from, the Sun or the Daily Mail. A Tesla model 3 weighs no more than a BMW 5 series, should we ban all cars over 1800 kg.
Complete fallacy tyres wear out quicker. Drive any car like a boy racer and you'll wear them out, drive normally they last just as long.
Why don't you check facts before writing nonsense.

Fun fact: it actually does.

'EVs tend to weigh a lot more than internal combustion engine cars:

A Tesla Model 3 Performance with AWD weighs 4,065 pounds -- 379 pounds more than a BMW 330i XDrive.
A Tesla Model S Long Range weighs 4,560 pounds -- 510 pounds more than a BMW 540i XDrive, which is no lightweight.
A Chevy Bolt weighs 3,563 pounds -- a huge 829 pounds more than a Nissan Kicks.'

So Tesla Model 3: 4,065lbs
BMW 540i XDrive: 4,050lbs

Source: Not misinformation

Where did you get YOUR information from...?

 

[Badger Boy]

Modern cars are designed quite well to prevent fire. Obviously they are not perfect, but considering the amount of cars around, you don’t see many fires and the services are very well equipped to deal with this sort of scenario.

The thing with an EV fire is that it burns hotter…. and develops very quickly, so when they go, you don’t want to be anywhere near.
There is a video floating around of an electric bus in Paris going up… it’s rapid, and in that case, the bus looks like a roman candle firework spraying white hot chemicals everywhere.

The fire brigade have released numerous statements about the difficulty of putting out electricity fires. It nigh on impossible without specialist equipment. You just have to let them burn out. So yes, I would class this as a cause for concern.

Cor blimey, guv'nor!

 

[carlzeiss]

I found this chap's observations of the Luton car park fire interesting . Warning if you do decide to watch , quote from the Daily Mail at 9.44

 

[HillBarnTillIDie]

I found this chap's observations of the Luton car park fire interesting . Warning if you do decide to watch , quote from the Daily Mail at 9.44

This bloke talking a hell alot of sense.

Ev’s are not going anywhere, so the challenge to find a suitable, safe method of fighting the very real situation of catastrophic battery failure is on.

Also, if anyone reading is in the insurance game…. would the people who's vehicles have been damaged make a claim against the policy of the vehicle that caught fire?? its that how it works with events like this?

 

[GOM]

This bloke talking a hell alot of sense.

Ev’s are not going anywhere, so the challenge to find a suitable, safe method of fighting the very real situation of catastrophic battery failure is on.

Also, if anyone reading is in the insurance game…. would the people who's vehicles have been damaged make a claim against the policy of the vehicle that caught fire?? its that how it works with events like this?

I can assure you EVs are going everywhere.