3 hours ago
1 ARTICLE AD
California sells more electric cars than any other state, many of which in Southern California have turned into rubble during the recent Los Angeles wildfires. And while lithium-ion batteries present in EVs do not burst into flames often, when they do they produce fires that are extremely hot and take significant water to extinguish. When the fires are out, they will leave behind a lot of toxic waste to clean up. It is a new headache and presents an irony about electric cars—the very things supposed to help the environment are being burned by a wildfire started by global warming, and the batteries are leaving behind more damage to the environment.
According to data from S&P Global cited by Bloomberg, there were over 431,000 Teslas in operation in the Los Angeles area as of October 2024. That does not include vehicles from other brands.
EV vehicle fires can take tens of thousands of gallons of water to put out, because the lithium-ion inside the batteries can create oxygen when burning, meaning a lot more water is necessary to cool the burning pack. Tesla publishes guides for fire departments that instruct them on how to extinguish fires from its vehicles. General Motors has previously provided four-hour training sessions to first responders on how to stop stubborn fires that will not go out.
Electric vehicles come with a host of unique drawbacks to consider — they are often very heavy, posing problems for road infrastructure, for instance, and charging a lot of EVs can put strain on electrical utilities. These are some of the reasons why certain urban dwellers are opposed to EVs altogether, arguing that people in cities should use public transit if they really want to support a green future. They come with contradictions.
Bloomberg spoke to a firefighter about how previous fires in Maui gave them a game plan to clean up batteries in Southern California:
San Diego firefighter Robert Rezende, a specialist in lithium-battery hazards who’ll be assisting in the cleanup effort, said protocols developed during the 2023 fires in Maui will be used in Los Angeles. But the scale of this event, and the hazards, are magnitudes larger.
“The state has seen other fires, but nothing this urban, with so many neighborhoods and structures where you’d expect to see more electric vehicles and other energy storage systems,” Rezende said. “We’re anticipating a pretty big lift.”
In Maui, the Environmental Protection Agency shipped more than 30 tons of lithium batteries from over 1,400 properties for recycling.
Electric vehicle fires are very rare, with the National Transportation Safety Board finding approximately 25 fires for every 100,000 electric vehicles sold.
Electric motors do not generate much heat, so fires occur most often in serious accidents when a battery is ruptured and the sensitive chemicals and elements inside become unstable, releasing heat and then creating a self-sustaining cycle to heat up uncontrollably. Of course, high heat from an external source like a wildfire can also cause the battery to heat up.
Unfortunately, because electric vehicles have massive battery packs, there will now be a lot of toxic waste to remove and try to recycle. Rain could cause toxic pollutants to reach the ocean if they are not cleaned up in time.
To be sure, countless studies show that the lifecycle emissions of electric vehicles will be 70% lower than gasoline or diesel, even accounting for mineral extraction or charging. Unless you lean to the more extreme end of the spectrum and think cars should be eliminated altogether, EVs are still likely better than the alternative gas options.
