I just got this in my inbox a few minutes ago:
IT Nerd. You might have heard that a Tesla Model S caught fire recently, and that’s called into question the safety of electric cars. What do you think?
The incident was caught on video and you can see it here along with an article that goes into some detail about what happened. This caused Tesla stock to drop in the immediate aftermath. Now, nobody was hurt in this incident and that’s a good thing, but what do I think about this? Here’s my $0.02 worth.
According to Tesla, here’s what their investigation found:
A curved section that fell off a semi-trailer was recovered from the roadway near where the accident occurred and, according to the road crew that was on the scene, appears to be the culprit. The geometry of the object caused a powerful lever action as it went under the car, punching upward and impaling the Model S with a peak force on the order of 25 tons. Only a force of this magnitude would be strong enough to punch a 3 inch diameter hole through the quarter inch armor plate protecting the base of the vehicle.
The Model S owner was nonetheless able to exit the highway as instructed by the onboard alert system, bring the car to a stop and depart the vehicle without injury. A fire caused by the impact began in the front battery module – the battery pack has a total of 16 modules – but was contained to the front section of the car by internal firewalls within the pack. Vents built into the battery pack directed the flames down towards the road and away from the vehicle.
Most people, meaning about 95% of us or more, drive cars with this highly volatile liquid called gasoline in the back end of the car. Imagine what would have happened if that exact scenario took place with a gas powered car. It would likely be catastrophic. Plus, it would likely not had made the news in the same way that this incident did. It would have been a non-event that wouldn’t have affected the stock price of whomever made the car. But because this is Tesla and we’re dealing with the hoopla that surrounds this company, this incident is a sensation and Tesla shares took a $2.5 billion haircut. Now as many of you are aware, I’m not exactly a fan of electric cars. But this is truly much ado about nothing and it does not illustrate a problem with electric cars. It was an accident. Plain and simple.
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This entry was posted on October 4, 2013 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Tesla. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Hey IT Nerd! What Do You Think Of That Tesla Catching Fire?
I just got this in my inbox a few minutes ago:
IT Nerd. You might have heard that a Tesla Model S caught fire recently, and that’s called into question the safety of electric cars. What do you think?
The incident was caught on video and you can see it here along with an article that goes into some detail about what happened. This caused Tesla stock to drop in the immediate aftermath. Now, nobody was hurt in this incident and that’s a good thing, but what do I think about this? Here’s my $0.02 worth.
According to Tesla, here’s what their investigation found:
A curved section that fell off a semi-trailer was recovered from the roadway near where the accident occurred and, according to the road crew that was on the scene, appears to be the culprit. The geometry of the object caused a powerful lever action as it went under the car, punching upward and impaling the Model S with a peak force on the order of 25 tons. Only a force of this magnitude would be strong enough to punch a 3 inch diameter hole through the quarter inch armor plate protecting the base of the vehicle.
The Model S owner was nonetheless able to exit the highway as instructed by the onboard alert system, bring the car to a stop and depart the vehicle without injury. A fire caused by the impact began in the front battery module – the battery pack has a total of 16 modules – but was contained to the front section of the car by internal firewalls within the pack. Vents built into the battery pack directed the flames down towards the road and away from the vehicle.
Most people, meaning about 95% of us or more, drive cars with this highly volatile liquid called gasoline in the back end of the car. Imagine what would have happened if that exact scenario took place with a gas powered car. It would likely be catastrophic. Plus, it would likely not had made the news in the same way that this incident did. It would have been a non-event that wouldn’t have affected the stock price of whomever made the car. But because this is Tesla and we’re dealing with the hoopla that surrounds this company, this incident is a sensation and Tesla shares took a $2.5 billion haircut. Now as many of you are aware, I’m not exactly a fan of electric cars. But this is truly much ado about nothing and it does not illustrate a problem with electric cars. It was an accident. Plain and simple.
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This entry was posted on October 4, 2013 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Tesla. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.