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Fisker Hybrids Get Bad Karma From Superstorm Sandy
New submitter slas6654 writes with this excerpt from Jalopnik: "Approximately 16 of the $100,000+ Fisker Karma extended-range luxury hybrids were parked in Port Newark, New Jersey last night when water from Hurricane Sandy's storm surge apparently breached the port and submerged the vehicles. As Jalopnik has exclusively learned, the cars then caught fire and burned to the ground.' Apparently Fiskar super-duty lithium ion batteries are neither water-proof or water soluble."
You can drive them if you want, I will not be.
A flooded car is a totaled car. No cars on the market are built for that.
I am not going to be buying a flooded car or any other R title.
It looks like several were close together, while others parked a little bit away were unscathed. Perhaps one caught fire and that burnt adjacent cars? They were parked pretty close, and there's a Karma in one of the photos that didn't suffer the same fate.
Because most cars don't burst into flame when submerged.
The party's over
On the upside, switching to EV's will seriously reduce the frequency of flood damaged cars being sold as 'working perfectly'
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
Let me explain it simply. On Earth, water falls from the sky, very frequently, sometimes with great force. Having a consumer level bomb that is activated by water is a bad idea whilst operating on Earth. It is a very volatile condition. These cars BURNED by being put in water and you dont think that is cause for alarm? Not one or two but over a DOZEN.
Good-bye
"submerged in salt water" is a whole other beast. A nasty one.
why does that matter?
There is an important difference between "totalled" and "erupt into a 1350 deg. C toxic lithium fire." Traditional gas/diesel cars don't usually do that when flooded, so a new and dramatic failure mode has been revealed. Something to note if you live in New Orleans or parts of Texas that see frequent flash floods and perhaps not the best thing to park in your integral garage.
You didn't really fail to understand this did you? You'd just rather people not discuss concerns that emerge with the things you prefer.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Only if you're not burning coal or oil to generate the electricity to charge that EV... Just sayin'.
As someone who also lives in Florida, I can explain.
1. Very little preparation for the type of weather that a hurricane can cause. In Florida, we have storm drains that take away most of the water that a hurricane causes. Add in building codes that require buildings to be designed for hurricanes (typically category 3) and utilities that are designed specifically for hurricanes, and you'll find that down here, things are pretty robust by design. New Jersey and New York didn't have that type of preparation and you had buildings collapse.
2. Record storm surges. In some places, the storm surge was over 13 feet where the harbor was only designed to handle the (then historic record) 12 feet, causing massive flooding.
3. Fires. Gas lines caught fire, causing over 100 homes to burn to the ground.
4. In New Jersey specifically, they had a berm go under water due to the storm surges, causing even more damage.
Ultimately, take a look at the damage predictions and you'll see why its called a superstorm. Wind was only part of the issue.
Until we have reliable alternatives, coal and Oil will be used until they disappear completely.
BTW ... obvious reasons. ... damn rivers ... kills birds ... Rare Earth Mineral Mining not allowed
Can't have Nuclear
Can't use Hydro Electric
Can't use windmills
Can't use Solar Voltaic
Let me know when we have viable alternatives that won't be outsourced to China or other third world nation.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.