Tesla Fires and Firestorms: Let's Breathe and Review Some Car Fire Math 264
cartechboy writes "There are about 150,000 vehicle fires reported every year in the U.S. — about 17 every hour, on average. But when that vehicle fire is a Tesla, the Internet notices. There have now been three fires among roughly 20,000 Tesla Model S electric cars on the road so far. The stock is down, the Feds are asking questions and the Internet is swimming in Tesla news. It may be time to check the facts and review some math (hint: we're looking at roughly one fire for every 33 million miles driven so far) and then breathe. Then look at what we know, what we don't know, and what we should know."
Probably going to clear Tesla (Score:5, Interesting)
In all 3 cases, it seems like the fire was caused by severe damage to the car from an outside source rather than a fault in the car. In all 3 cases the car's design prevented injury to the driver from the fire rather than contributing to the fire. And, let's face it, if we investigated every conventional model of car that was involved in 3 fires in a single month, every single model would be under investigation continuously. So, the people panicking over this and getting rid of Tesla stock, and the people pointing to this to impugn Tesla, need to get a grip. There's other reasons not to like Tesla, but it's not because their cars are in any way unsafe (or at least nomore unsafe than ~2 tons of steel barreling along at between 80 and 110 feet per second carrying between 10 and 30 gallons of highly flammable fuel (which forms explosive vapors under normal environmental conditions) in a thin sheet-metal tank with no armor or other protection against penetration).
Re:TFA is a Tesla PR piece (Score:5, Interesting)
There are about 150,000 vehicle fires reported every year in the U.S. â" about 17 every hour, on average. But when that vehicle fire is a Tesla, the Internet notices "
True, there are over one hundreds thousand car fires per year, and that shouldn't even be any surprise, for they carry HIGHLY COMBUSTIBLE HYDRO-CARBON FUEL, - such as gasoline or diesel, - in them !
On the other hand, Tesla cars, being electrically powered, do NOT need gasoline, or do they??
Comparing the big number of hydrocarbon-powered vehicles which caught fire with the 3 cases of Tesla cars is, to put it very mildly, totally misleading !!
Most car fires are the result of defective or worn wiring. Gasoline catches fires as the result of a collision. Diesel generally won't catch fire since it's the same as home heating oil, which only burns when sprayed as an aerosol. When a new expensive electric vehicle catches fire, it is news. Maybe not stop-the-presses news, but news nonetheless.
Re:TFA is a Tesla PR piece (Score:4, Interesting)
" There are about 150,000 vehicle fires reported every year in the U.S. â" about 17 every hour, on average. But when that vehicle fire is a Tesla, the Internet notices "
What is the real intention behind the above quote?
Was the author getting any financial supprt from the Tesla car company ?
Well, what is your intention? Are you getting any financial support from the oil industry? while there is no evidence one way or the other, some people have been saying that Taco Cowboy is being paid by Exxon. Even more so, some people have been claiming that Taco Cowboy may even have secretly donated to the Obama campaign.
All of that just kidding, I have no reason to believe that you are anything but honest and upstanding.
So now that we have gotten the thinly veiled accusations of paid shilldom and nefarious scofflawism out of the way, what might be reasons?
The reason is, that just like any other form of non-standard transportation or energy, every non-perfect outcome is trotted out and displayed as the utter failure of the technology. A Tesla catches on fire, showing that we need to abandon the technology. Just as Germany is more successful with solar power, because Germany is sunnier than the USA. Fox News told me so.
At the very least, how many gasoline vehicle fires have been posted and argued on Slashdot as indicative of the utter failure of gasoline powered engines?
Re:TFA is a Tesla PR piece (Score:5, Interesting)