I think it is an understatement to say that electricity and water don’t mix particularly well.
I was just wondering how electric cars fare in situations where water levels get really high - for instance, we don’t get a lot of rain in Las Vegas, but when it does rain, it is not uncommon for streets and intersections to be very deep in water. Yes, you are not supposed to drive through those areas even in “normal” cars, but sometimes it is somewhat unavoidable to get the water up to the sides of your car.
I have to assume electric cars have been tested in such situations, but are they more or less likely to suffer severe damage if water should reach a fairly high level?
Do the batteries have an extra, air tight container?
If they do get submerged, even for a short time, will they “dry out” and be good as new?
Is there any reason why it would be more dangerous to be stuck in a car with three feet of water around you in an electric car versus a normal gas engine car?
Since electric drivetrain components don’t have to be sucking in huge volumes of air, in theory it should be much easier to make an electric car that’s sealed up such that it’s much more tolerant of flooding than an internal combustion one. I don’t know if that’s actually the case with any current electric cars though.
Side note-- I think this is yet another reason why when electric car technology really matures, you’ll see some utterly amazing electric off-road trucks. You get basically 100% torque at low speeds, you could have four separate motors at each wheel so none of the current problems with differentials and your ford depth could be limited only by getting oxygen to the passengers.
OTOH I did once kill a regular old Civic I had trying to ford (heh) a flooded underpass … up until the car in front of me everyone had made it through. Turns out Hondas float. Just not for long.
Get water into the air intake and your engine is trashed. Probably marginally less of a concern for all electrics than ICEs and plug-in hybrids.