Accidents involving electric cars can have major consequences due to battery fires. Most recently, a Tesla Semi accident in the US became a hot topic. The battery of the electric truck that left the road ignited and could be extinguished with 190 thousand liters of water.
190 thousand liters of water was spent for the Tesla Semi fire
Following last month’s accident in the US involving a Tesla Semi, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shared its preliminary findings on the incident. In the accident, it was stated that a fire broke out as a result of the electric truck’s batteries igniting and nearly 190 thousand liters of water was consumed.
In the accident that occurred in August, a truck driven by a Tesla employee ran off the road and hit a tree. The truck was able to stop by hitting other trees. While the driver escaped unhurt, the lithium-ion batteries of the truck started to burn.
Firefighters used about 190 thousand liters of water to extinguish the fire and cool the batteries. Due to the risk of forest fires in the area, fire planes also dropped fire retardants as a precaution.
On the other hand, the highway was closed to traffic for 15 hours to cool the batteries and complete the rescue work. This once again highlights the difficulties of extinguishing battery fires in electric vehicles.
The large capacity batteries used by the Tesla Semi made the fire even more difficult to contain. It should be noted that Tesla is investigating battery fires while the NTSB’s investigation continues.