The U.S. coast guard released photos of a burning cargo ship that was carrying Chinese EVs and hybrids bound for Mexico.
Bloomberg reports that the cargo ship, The Morning Midas, was shipping 3,048 vehicles from brands such as Chery and Great Wall to Mexico when it caught fire. It’s unclear which brand’s electric vehicle caught fire, but as a result, the cargo ship had to be abandoned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
On the other hand, Chinese media reports that the ship originated from the Chinese city of Yantai which also has a SAIC plant. Prior to that it called at two other Chinese ports, Nansha in the south and Shanghai. The charterer of the vessel was also reported to be Anji Logistics, a subsidiary of SAIC.
According to a statement from the U.S. coast guard, smoke was first reported coming from a deck of the vessel last June 3, whose cargo included about 750 EVs and hybrids.
Great Wall Motor had about 140 cars on the ship, although none of them were battery EVs and were not on the deck where the fire started.
The crew initiated firefighting procedures but the blaze couldn’t be brought under control. Responders were deployed to support salvage and firefighting operations, while all 22 crew members were evacuated and transferred to a nearby merchant ship.
The plight of The Morning Midas and its cargo of EVs and HEVs highlights the real problem of possible thermal runaway when dealing with electrified vehicles.
In 2022, The Felicity Ace sunk with 4,000 Volkswagen Group vehicles despite efforts to tow the ship to safety. A year later another ship with close to 3,000 cars on board caught fire near the Dutch coast.
Shipowners have taken steps to try to manage the safety risks involved in hauling electric vehicles. Last year, a key safety group published guidelines on how to deal with fires on board the vessels.
Such incidents can have major consequences for the companies that make the cars and shipowners alike, as well as for their insurers.
Fires involving EVs are often harder to extinguish and more dangerous to fight. The conditions of a tightly packed car-carrying cargo ship led to limited ventilation, which can rapidly intensify heat. The confined, steel-lined environment makes fire suppression and rescues significantly more dangerous.
Additionally, when an EV burns, it does so for longer and the fire gets hotter. The flames can end up accelerating through chain reactions and spiraling out of control quickly, a process called thermal runaway. EV fires can take up to 30,000 liters of water to cool the lithium-ion batteries. As a precautionary measure, several shipping companies, particularly Ro-Ro vessels in Europe, have already invested in a so-called fire blanket which can extinguish EV-related flames without the need for water.
Always something to keep in mind... EV cars burning.....
ReplyDeleteScary
ReplyDeleteLessons should have been learned by the first similar event that happened off Europe in the Atlantic. There's no reason for these ships to be ill-equipped for such events.
ReplyDeleteMost likely fleet of gas powered MG vehicles
ReplyDeleteThese ships have high tech fire fighting equipment and yet they don't stand a chance against EV fires. What if this happens in a mall charging station or a residential neighborhood?
ReplyDeleteIt’s called Burn Your Driveway for a reason
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