Tesla Inc (TSLA)

[boston745]

Unfortunately, these attempts to present electric cars as safer than ICE vehicles when it comes to fires are nothing new. One of the most relevant blazes I remember covering was the one that almost sank the Fremantle Highway, a cargo ship that was carrying 3,783 automobiles, 498 of which were BEVs, when it caught fire. On August 28, 2023, I had to write an article to show how every outlet that absolved electric cars for that fire were not journalists but rather advocates. All it took me to debunk their allegations was an email exchange with their alleged source.

Luckily, no one died, which is not something we can say about the Fremantle Highway.Search for its name, and you will find dozens of articles saying a BEV did not cause the fire. Investigations proved them wrong, which did not make them retract or correct these articles. Porsche and Volkswagen are now being sued by the ship operator and its insurance company, among several other plaintiffs, because the fire would have erupted from a Porsche BEV.

Look at that, BEVs did cause the Fremantle Ship fire despite so many articles claiming otherwise. Great article.

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How does EMF cause lithium batteries to experience thermal runaway and thus spontaneously combust? One of two main ways:

#1 - Overcharge/Discharge

With various impressed external magnetic field intensities an effect was noticed on the charge and discharge curves as well as the charge and mass concentrations within the batteries. With the two-dimensional model starting from 0mT and going to 1mT had the effect of discharging the battery faster and charging the battery faster. With the two-dimensional model starting from 1mT and going to -1mT had the effect of charging the battery faster. In either case an effect on the various characteristics of the battery were studied. With the experiments conducted on the two types of batteries the effect was more profound than subtle. Discharge times were twice as fast and charge times were equally
affected. With the smaller batteries they all generally charged faster under the presence of a magnetic field due to more uniform penetration. In the presence of the field they also discharged faster. The larger batteries would not see the same uniform penetration because only a small area of the battery sees the center of the coil it is placed on

In this dissertation, they found that external magnetic fields significantly increased charge and discharge rates in individual lithium battery cells; like shown in the following image. They also found that smaller batteries were impacted to a greater degree than larger ones. This is likely a reason Tesla is switching to larger battery cells in addition to employing magnetic attenuating honeycomb sandwich battery pack.

Thermal Runaway of Lithium-Ion Batteries Triggered by Electromagnetic Interference
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9025761

https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0378775320302172-fx1_lrg.jpg

#2 - Stimulation of Dendrite Growth

Thermoelectric current causes asymmetric growth pattern of dendrites.

thermoelectromagnetic convection occurs in the vicinity of the solid-liquid interface, and vortices are generated between dendritic arms. It is shown that the thermoelectromagnetic convection has a major influence on dendritic morphology.

Quote Sources:

#1:https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/1743

#2:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001793101930225X