Re:Tesla stock tumbles after Model S catches fire
by jacquesm on Thursday October 03, 2013 @01:22PM
(#6490425)
Gasoline car fires take seconds, not minutes and there are lots of places where things can go wrong, pretty much every junction of the gas line plumbing, the tank and the injection system.
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Re:Tesla stock tumbles after Model S catches fire
by abalone on Thursday October 03, 2013 @02:12PM
(#6490797)
Whereas Teslas are only vulnerable along the entire underside of the car. And don't require an ignition source.
Re:Tesla stock tumbles after Model S catches fire
by jacquesm on Thursday October 03, 2013 @02:32PM
(#6490936)
Note that the fire was contained and that it did not enter the car interior.
Containing a gasoline fire after it has had a second or two to run is very hard if not impossible.
Re:Tesla stock tumbles after Model S catches fire
by abalone on Thursday October 03, 2013 @05:14PM
(#6492102)
That's Tesla's PR spin. You'd probably be in pretty bad shape from the heat if you were trapped in that car. The guy taking the video remarked he could feel it just by driving by.
A key question here is how easy it is to start a fire from a relatively minor and common incident such as hitting road debris. Sure, it's possible in gas cars, and gas fires burn quickly.
But if it's a lot more common in cars with giant vulnerability zones along their entire undersides where shrapnel can start fires through physical damage without even an ignition source...
All I'm saying is this is definitely something we need to monitor closely, not just dismiss offhandedly or spin with clever PR like "the fire didn't enter the cabin (but still could have killed you)".