Courtesy of Zendo Deb at 357 Magnum blog, we find that the explosion and fire in the Port of Miami on November 29th was caused by previously water-damaged electric vehicles. This sub-5-minute video report contains all the essential details. Recommended viewing; and once you've watched it, I'll have a few more things to say about it.
First, kudos to the investigator for taking the time and trouble to track down all of the vehicles involved, including the damage they suffered during hurricane-induced floods earlier this year.
Next, consider his comments about how easy it is to modify damage documentation into salvage documentation - even a clean title. I don't know how many vehicles have come out of hurricane-damaged areas into parts of the USA where they could be re-registered without any indication that they'd been flooded, but I'm willing to bet it's more than a few. From my own experience during and after Hurricane Katrina, including discussions with law enforcement personnel, I'd say every such storm sees several thousand such vehicles sold to unknowing buyers in other states. In the case of electric vehicles, the danger of fire or explosion is exponentially greater than for fossil-fuel-powered examples. What if the vehicle that exploded had reached its destination, and been re-registered and sold, and had a mother with small children in it when it finally cooked off? That doesn't bear thinking about . . .
I think we all need to keep this firmly in mind when dealing with used or pre-owned electric or hybrid vehicles. The risk from flooding or battery damage is so great as to warrant extreme care in checking it out before committing to buying it.
Thanks, once again, to Zendo Deb for publishing that video. It's a very important lesson to all of us.
Peter
I used to carry a small flashlight with lithium batteries. I experienced a thermal runaway IN MY POCKET... NOTHING stays on the charger overnight or unattended in my perimeter. Maybe a 12V vehicle battery if its parked well away from everything flammable. (I have had problems charging those but it's very rare). Technology is great if it works reliably. Otherwise, not so much.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you don't live up north, a trickle-charger will keep an older (over a year old) non-fully-charged battery from freezing when it hits -20°F or so.
DeleteYou learn things like this with your pocketbook.
With the way vehicles are resold and moved around, it is wise to check the previous location of any vehicle within 2 years of major flooding (which means any vehicle since every year sees major flooding somewhere in the US).
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in the Northeast, people would buy Florida cars and bring them up, advertising them as salt and rust free... The prices meant they had to be getting them cheap, so I assumed there were unadvertised problems with them.
Jonathan
I sold an older crown victoria to a company out of Miami a number of years ago. The firm exported them to the Dominican Republic for use as a taxi. In the case of mine they replaced the engine with another from a salvage vehicle as mine had 225,000 miles but a perfect body. I'm sure similar salvage is done to these.
ReplyDeleteFor flood damaged vehicles the State(s) should require removal and scrapping of the high voltage batteries.
The worst state offender is Utah. I would never try to get a "deal" on a salvage title vehicle anyway, but Utah is by far the loosest state for those types of car dealers.
ReplyDeleteWhat a "salvage title" means probably varies from state to state. Partly it may simply mean that an insurance company paid a claim that the vehicle was involved in. In CA it can be difficult to find a used vehicle that doesn't have it. Someone stole the seats out of a car? No damage, but it can still be a salvage title. Unless you are dealing with the owner that had a vehicle re-classified on them, you may not have any idea what happened. My insurance agent told me it makes no difference to them if it has a salvage title. The state requires some equipment checks for a new salvage title before it can be returned to the street.
ReplyDeleteWhat is annoying is some states have taken the position that they know better than anyone else what constitutes a salvageable vehicle, and slap it with a "certificate of Destruction" that means the only use of it is for scrapping. Most cases, though, you can still sell it out of the country. Ahh, international relations...