Can Your Electric Vehicle Catch Fire During a Hurricane? E.V. batteries that are submerged in saltwater can catch fire after the floods subside, but experts say it’s a rarity.
by silence7
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Can Your Electric Vehicle Catch Fire During a Hurricane? E.V. batteries that are submerged in saltwater can catch fire after the floods subside, but experts say it’s a rarity.
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Mind you, *any* car submerged in saltwater is a total loss. There were a ton of “Katrina cars” from the flooding there after that storm.
I put my Nissan Leaf in the garage ahead of Milton and my neighbor saw it and the first thing out of his mouth was it would catch on fire and I am not even in a flood zone.
One of the recommended, safe ways of discharging Hyjndai batteries is with saltwater, according to the manual… so I guess it depends on the car?
The batteries are sealed for salt water ingress, but the submersion would be an issue, although one way to minimise fire risk would be to leave it in a low state of charge.
Better question: Is a home even salvageable after experiencing the kind of flood that would cause any garaged cars to be written off?
Obviously it’s preferable to have no fire at all, but if the home needs to be demolished and rebuilt anyway, the prospect of a saltwater-induced EV fire is less scary than it sounds.
If I knew a flood was coming, I would likely take my vehicles, EV or ICE and park them on a 4th floor of a parking garage somewhere.
Or better yet, load then up and evacuate.
Also any car getting that much water means it was as high as the bottom of the seat.