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Tesla Car fire -- it finally happened.

UDRider said:
The more I think about Tesla the more I think it's less about cars, and more about owning the infrastructure to charge them.
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It's not about cars at all.

Tesla is a CA emissions credit net recipient. They sell their excess credits to competitors. That's how they generate cash. Period.
 
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Look to fire suppression systems in their next gen stuff. Mark those words.
 
}Dragon{ said:
They have always had an optional fire suppression system offered. It's called buy, carry in your car and know how to use a fire extinguisher.
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zzactly. i have 2 10 lb. purple k in my truck. puts out car fires better than an ABC and is 10% more effective in the ghetto.
 
Not going to weigh in too heavily until there's more info, but at first glance it would appear that this fire did not come from the electric drivetrain. As has been pointed out, the motor is in the midrear and the battery runs the length of the floor from wheel to wheel. If it did start in the front portion of the battery, it just proved Tesla's anti-propagation technology to be pretty fucking amazing since the fire did not spread throughout the pack.

This very well could be a quality or design issue with some other subsystem (my armchair guess? Either 12V system, or contained pack breach), so Tesla isn't off the hook but so I'm not seeing any indictment of EV and if anything an endorsement of the safety of Tesla's battery tech.
 
Killroy1999 said:
What about all the conventional cars that burn down every day? No fire suppression systems going in them.
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Just like piston airplanes, there is no fire suppression. Doesn't start till you get to light jet aircraft. IMO, Tesla will need something to overcome public mistrust in batteries. Fire suppression is not terribly expensive and something that can be marketed as a safety feature over gas engines.
 
ohio said:
Not going to weigh in too heavily until there's more info, but at first glance it would appear that this fire did not come from the electric drivetrain. As has been pointed out, the motor is in the midrear and the battery runs the length of the floor from wheel to wheel. If it did start in the front portion of the battery, it just proved Tesla's anti-propagation technology to be pretty fucking amazing since the fire did not spread throughout the pack.

This very well could be a quality or design issue with some other subsystem (my armchair guess? Either 12V system, or contained pack breach), so Tesla isn't off the hook but so I'm not seeing any indictment of EV and if anything an endorsement of the safety of Tesla's battery tech.
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Looks like it was the battery

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/10/03/tesla-says-model-s-fire-started-in-li-ion-battery-share-prices/
 
UDRider said:
The more I think about Tesla the more I think it's less about cars, and more about owning the infrastructure to charge them.
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it's a growing industry right now. Gotta have that infrastructure and they're buiding new stations at a high rate. don't know if it's profitable for them yet...I doubt it would be, with most of them operating free of charge (pun intended). The supply (of charging stations) is most definitely helping increase demand (of the cars) at the present time.
 
Owensdad said:
It's not about cars at all.

Tesla is a CA emissions credit net recipient. They sell their excess credits to competitors. That's how they generate cash. Period.
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Shhhhhh. Reality has no place in a discussion about the success of Tesla.
 
See - if they has just stayed true to Nikola Tesla's vision of building giant transmission towers to broadcast electricity they wouldn't HAVE had this problem !

What could possibly go wrong ?
 
UDRider said:
The more I think about Tesla the more I think it's less about cars, and more about owning the infrastructure to charge them.
Click to expand...

Wasn't big oil still raking in record profits while Detroit was going boobies to the sky? Like HP making throw-away printers and charging a premium for ink cartridges.
 
Bassem said:
Looks like it was the battery

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/10/03/tesla-says-model-s-fire-started-in-li-ion-battery-share-prices/
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So armchair guess of contained pack breach holds! I'm realizing in retrospect that contradicts my own first sentence though.:twofinger

I'd call this good validation of Tesla's anti-propagation tech, but it's still a net less for EVs and Tesla. That same event on a gas car probably would've punched a hole in an oil pan, and on most cars with most drivers that would have led to a seized engine, but not a imminent safety threat (fire) and total loss. For an attentive driver it would not even have been a loss of the engine.
 
Hawaiirider said:
See - if they has just stayed true to Nikola Tesla's vision of building giant transmission towers to broadcast electricity they wouldn't HAVE had this problem !

What could possibly go wrong ?
Click to expand...

TeslaRedAlert2Full1000.jpg
 
Blog post from Tesla/Elon: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/model-s-fire

"A curved section that fell off a semi-trailer was recovered from the roadway near where the accident occurred and, according to the road crew that was on the scene, appears to be the culprit. The geometry of the object caused a powerful lever action as it went under the car, punching upward and impaling the Model S with a peak force on the order of 25 tons. Only a force of this magnitude would be strong enough to punch a 3 inch diameter hole through the quarter inch armor plate protecting the base of the vehicle."
 
Luckily, forceful impacts with large metal objects during an automobile accident is extremely rare?:dunno
 
You guys seen a Model S at speed? The air suspension lowers the car to cut the air from under the car. Probably couldn't even run over a soda can on its side without the front air dam catching it.
 
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