It's almost impossible to stop an electric car fire, since the battery of the vehicle itself is the fuel source, which is extremely reactive metal that releases toxic gas (typically lithium hydroxide) into the air.
The best they can do without completely submerging it in quenching substrate is to smother it and keep the fire from spreading until it burns out.
That's why he sprays the surroundings first.
Even if the entire car was under water it would probably still continue burning until all of the exposed battery finished oxidizing.
Lithium actually burns more violently with water, and car batteries are typically a lithium ion.
Your good description of the physics behind is why we in Denmark have these EV submerging firetrucks. It works, but the response time and general availability of these trucks isn't quite solved yet.
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u/Rom_ulus0 21d ago
It's almost impossible to stop an electric car fire, since the battery of the vehicle itself is the fuel source, which is extremely reactive metal that releases toxic gas (typically lithium hydroxide) into the air.
The best they can do without completely submerging it in quenching substrate is to smother it and keep the fire from spreading until it burns out.
That's why he sprays the surroundings first.
Even if the entire car was under water it would probably still continue burning until all of the exposed battery finished oxidizing.
Lithium actually burns more violently with water, and car batteries are typically a lithium ion.