đź“° Auto News Chevy Volt bursts into flames in NHTSA Parking lot

Dasfinc

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Volt 'bursts into flames' after sitting for 3 weeks after side impact test from NHSTA.

http://jalopnik.com/5858690/chevy-volt-crash-test-fire-explodes-into-federal-investigation

From Jalopnik:

The federal government is now investigating the safety of electric cars, and specifically, lithium-ion batteries, after a Chevy Volt caught fire three weeks after a side-impact crash test.
The wrecked Volt apparently caught fire in the parking lot of NHTSA's crash test facility in Wisconsin a full three weeks after the initial crash test. According to the exclusive Bloomberg story, the fire was large enough to burn vehicles parked in the vicinity of the car.

NHTSA is also apparently probing an incident involving a Volt catching on fire while charging. But the scope is not merely limited to General Motors. Regulators have approached all automakers, including GM, Nissan, and Ford — any that sell or have plans to sell vehicles with lithium-ion batteries — with questions about the batteries' fire risk, four people familiar with the inquiry said to Bloomberg.

We've reached out to NHTSA and GM for comment.
 

Mook

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Bru

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Out Volt was wrecked, sat for a month and didn't catch fire. I wonder what precautions NHTSA took after crashing it, or if they simply parked it and didn't take any of the precautionary measures GM recommends after an accident.

There could very well still be a problem not addressed, though. There are just so few details of the story right now.
 

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Statement from NHTSA:
Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe the Volt or other electric vehicles are at a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles. In fact, all vehicles - both electric and gasoline-powered - have some risk of fire in the event of a serious crash.
 

Thirdgen89GTA

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Didn't anyone ever tell the NHTSA that Li-Ion batteries can go boom? The only battery technology that has a decent capacity and amp draw is Li-Mag, you can smack those things with a hammer and they won't swell and later explode.

Go to 1:40 to watch them explode without waiting for the boring parts.

[YOUTUBEHD]SMy2_qNO2Y0#t=92s[/YOUTUBEHD]
 

RICH17

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You would think in the event of a crash that the safety systems in place would have a circuit breaker of sorts that disconnects the battery from the rest of the system. I am wondering if there was some sort of short created in the system when it got nailed and took that long to "boil" the battery
 

Thirdgen89GTA

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You would think in the event of a crash that the safety systems in place would have a circuit breaker of sorts that disconnects the battery from the rest of the system. I am wondering if there was some sort of short created in the system when it got nailed and took that long to "boil" the battery

Unfortunately that isn't enough.

Lithium Polymer and Lithium Ion batteries are suspect to impact damage and it can cause the same runaway reactions sometimes resulting in swelling and if the swelling causes enough heat it can make the pack burst into flames all on its own.

Quite often with RC cars that run on lipo you'll see the racers take the packs out of the car and put them in fireproof bags to prevent other items from catching fire.

Thats why you'll never catch big time RC car bashers who send their cars 20-30ft in the air use lipo packs. They are simply too sensitive to damage from impacts.
 
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