Wait . . . what? Hurricanes cause EVs to set themselves on fire?

Photo above - AI art based on the prompt "onlookers keeping a safe distance during Friday's EV fire during the hurricane"

In last week’s episode of “As the World Burns”, this writer reported on a Tesla EV tractor trailer that caught fire near Sacramento. The lithium battery took 50,000 gallons of water and two forest fire fighting aircraft to extinguish. It burned at 1,000 degrees for 4 hours.

Today’s update: apparently you don’t need a fender bender to set your Tesla on fire. Simply living in a hurricane zone – or possibly near a rising river – can do the trick. It’s unclear whether the apocalyptic agent of destruction is specifically salt water from coastal storm surge, or just ordinary fresh water. See link below.

I did not know this could be a problem, so I reached out to a friend who has a Tesla model Y. He's checking his owner's manual now (10 megabytes, 302 pages). If you know what page the hurricane/flood warning is on, please reply in the thread below.

Evidently the entire state of Florida is now unsuitable for EVs. As well as coastal Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. California, if last year’s drought is actually over, you might want to warn your residents too. But at least the golden state has firefighting aircraft. I don’t believe we have these in Florida, as 90% of our state is only 6 inches above sea level.

It’s not just electric cars. Evidently a bunch of EV scooters committed suicide during hurricane Helene too. I would recommend spraying these things with a can of Flex Seal before the next storm, but that might void the warranty. Please don’t use a hose to clean them off until we learn more.

In case anyone wants to snark “electric cars are safer than gasoline ones”, let me concede your point. Except in a hurricane, rising river, or possibly going through a brushless car wash with high pressure sprays. I get 3 news links a week promising me that safer, longer lasting, and more affordable “solid state” EV batteries are coming. I’ve been getting these for about 5 years now. Solid state batteries are promised NOT to spontaneously combust, and will also free us from the tyranny of China's monopoly on rare earth minerals. When Solid State batteries finally DO arrive, we will enter the golden age of electric cars version 2.0. Today, we are still on version 1.0, with their hilariously expensive and explosive half ton pods of lithium and unobtanium. But don’t forget, these EVs come with a government tax rebate, in case you’re not yet convinced how great they are . . .

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Flooded electric vehicles, scooters bursting into flames after Hurricane Helene | FOX 5 Atlanta