{"id":269,"date":"2022-10-07T17:20:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T17:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autobuyersmarket.com\/news\/?p=269"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:24:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T10:24:30","slug":"water-damage-from-hurricane-ian-is-making-electric-vehicle-batteries-corrode-and-explode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autobuyersmarket.com\/news\/2022\/10\/07\/water-damage-from-hurricane-ian-is-making-electric-vehicle-batteries-corrode-and-explode\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Damage from Hurricane Ian Making Electric Vehicle Batteries Corrode, Explode"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Officials
Florida’s State Fire Marshal said that EV battery fires can be notoriously difficult to put out\u00a0sharing video and images of fire personnel combating blazing EVs. Photo credit: Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer & State Fire Marshal \/ Twitter.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Officials in Florida are warning the owners of electric vehicles to exercise extreme caution after firefighters in the state have been inundated with numerous EV fires<\/a> \u2013 and even explosions \u2013 stemming from lithium batteries damaged by water after last week\u2019s destructive passing of Hurricane Ian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hurricane Ian \u2013 a Category 4 storm \u2013 tore through Florida\u2019s west coast last week, causing over 100 deaths and more than one million residents to lose power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Batteries in EVs that have been waterlogged amid Ian\u2019s passing could see water penetrating their lithium batteries and causing corrosion that can lead to sudden and unexpected fires and worse, according to a tweet<\/a> issued on Thursday by Jimmy Patronis, the Chief Financial Officer of the state of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start,” Patronis said, sharing a video of firefighters battling a smoking Tesla. “That\u2019s a new challenge that our firefighters haven\u2019t faced before. At least on this kind of scale.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Patronis noted that EV battery fires can be notoriously difficult to put out in a follow-up tweet<\/a>, sharing another video of fire personnel combating another blazing EV; a bystander in the video can be heard saying that  the crew had used \u201chundreds of gallons of water\u201d to try and put the fire out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It takes special training and understanding of EVs to ensure these fires are put out quickly and safely. Thanks to @NCFRPio<\/a> for their hard work. #Hurricanelan<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/oN0RvQTG2U<\/a><\/p>— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) October 6, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>