Tesla Model S garage fire follows pattern prompting warnings

&gt; The issue is causing mounting concern as a number of electric-vehicle makers have warned owners not to leave the cars charging unattended in certain circumstances, or sitting fully charged in garages.<p>Wow.<p>* Don&#x27;t leave your car fully charged? Stop and think about the UX there. That&#x27;s a completely new paradigm: don&#x27;t completely fill you car with energy? Why not just stop the charging at 90% and call that 100%? What should you leave it at? (Drone batteries should be left at 50% if not going to be used soon.)<p>* Don&#x27;t leave your car unattended while charging? So I&#x27;m supposed to sit there and watch it charge?<p>That&#x27;s sort of an unacceptable usage model, IMHO.

I don&#x27;t mean to be a Tesla apologist, but what&#x27;s the rate of cars with ICE engines catching on fire in garages?<p>I only ask because (n=1) I recall a major house fire across the street from me that started in the attached garage when the car caught fire.<p>The ultimate problem is the same: it takes a lot of stored energy to propel a car 300 miles, regardless of that energy source. Controlling that energy will be challenge regardless.

Again, people go for the Tesla story. What about this list?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;allev.info&#x2F;2021&#x2F;07&#x2F;list-of-known-chevy-bolt-fires&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;allev.info&#x2F;2021&#x2F;07&#x2F;list-of-known-chevy-bolt-fires&#x2F;</a><p>Edit: It get it, here come the hate replies and down votes.<p>Yes I know the article &quot;mentions&quot; others, but the title is again about Tesla and not EVs.<p>I get it. The Tesla articles always get the talk though. I honestly hear &quot;Oh, Teslas light on fire. Electric vehicles are bad.&quot; Ask about the Bolt &quot;Those are electric? I thought they used gas.&quot;<p>Let&#x27;s see how many comments this article gets about this fire compared to the Bolt. The original Bolt talk here from 9 months ago had 106 comments. Heck even the latest post where GM had to recall the Bolt, again, had like 2 comments. Let&#x27;s see how fast this one grows due to branding.<p>It&#x27;s so rare, but they (Tesla) get the real headlines.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20210804203108if_&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;technology&#x2F;2021&#x2F;08&#x2F;04&#x2F;tesla-fire&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20210804203108if_&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wa...</a>

In the short-term this is partly addressable by not parking EVs in garages, and perhaps long-term by new safety measures on both EVs and on garages to contain potential fires.<p>But I have a related question: Are power walls also dangerous like this? They are also large lithium ion batteries.

This is terrible, obviously. Where possible, all EV makers should protect against this.<p>Gas cars may not catch fire when they sit in a garage, but they&#x27;re not perfectly safe. My parents&#x27; friend left the car on one night, by accident. The carbon monoxide killed half the family.<p>There&#x27;s low-probability tragedies around us, each a little different. There&#x27;s no silver bullet.

Just in case you think if you have gasoline in your car the risk is 0<p>&quot;If you own one of these cars, vans or SUVs, don’t park them in a garage, automaker says Kia, Hyundai recall more than 700,000 vehicles for potential fire risk in anti-lock brake system&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.clickorlando.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;investigators&#x2F;2020&#x2F;03&#x2F;02&#x2F;if-you-own-one-of-these-cars-vans-or-suvs-dont-park-them-in-a-garage-automaker-says&#x2F;?outputType=amp&amp;__twitter_impression=true" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.clickorlando.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;investigators&#x2F;2020&#x2F;03&#x2F;02&#x2F;i...</a>

Note: this fire was actually last year when there was a spate of EV fires, but was not reported publicly until today.<p>The big takeaway from these fires is that proper safety for EVs might soon mean not leaving them in garages, especially those attached&#x2F;part of residential structures. Expect insurance companies to adjust home insurance policies accordingly to account for EV fire risks.

Tesla detected charging problem and send a message, but a battery pack crammed with temperature sensors didnt notice being on fire?

&gt; Gasoline driven cars don’t catch fire in the garage when they’re sitting there. And that’s the difference,”<p>Lol. I was 14. I was working on something when I was suddenly startled by a really loud noise out of nowhere.<p>Our neighbors Caddy Escalade spontaneously caught fire. Out of nowhere.<p>That said, a car that combusts out of nowhere is terrifying as hell

&gt; Gasoline driven cars don’t catch fire in the garage when they’re sitting there. And that’s the difference,”<p>Lol. I was 14. I was working on something when I was suddenly startled by a really loud noise out of nowhere.<p>Our neighbors Caddy Escalade spontaneously caught fire. Out of nowhere.

So if you&#x27;re supervising your vehicle being charged and it catches fire, what do you do? Are you stuck waiting for the fire brigade anyway?

Dread to think of a Tesla battery fire in a garage with poor access for the fireworks.

Two recent major battery fires.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2021-08-02&#x2F;a-tesla-big-battery-in-australia-is-burning-for-a-fourth-day?sref=RJ2RlMrh" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2021-08-02&#x2F;a-tesla-b...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;insideevs.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;373722&#x2F;truck-trailer-five-teslas-burns&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;insideevs.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;373722&#x2F;truck-trailer-five-teslas-...</a><p>We need to start addressing the reality of gang fires from charged lithium batteries a lot more seriously.

This is throwing a big wrench into the idea that EVs could help stabilize the grid in the era of relatively unreliable renewable energy sources.<p>At least for now until better battery tech will emerge. Hopefully insurance will keep track of this and update their policies regularly.