I think the movement towards EV’s is great and showing success IRL on the road. But one thing I am concerned about is when (not if) a school bus full of children goes up in lithium fueled flames. While this is very sad, what I want to address is the political fallout, namely cries to stop using/making EV’s and/or to limit their use. Those cries will go up even if statistically they are safer from roasting children then ICE buses.
I’m sure the EV makers are likewise concerned about the perception that such a EV bus fire could cause politically. But is there any hope of making a practical EV school bus that could not face this issue?
We’ll probably be moving past lithium-ion batteries for something like a school bus. The sodium-ion batteries they’re developing take up more room so won’t work well for small devices but will work great in buses. Especially city & school buses.
The sodium-ion battery is cheaper & safer but doesn’t have the storage density of lithium ion.
I expect by 2030 that we’ll start seeing buses with this battery tech.
No as gas powered buses don’t have lithium so no lithium fueled flames. It’s a smart Alec answer for a reason, children can go up in diesel flames 100 to 1 over EV, but the cry will be for that one time.
In reality ICE’s are more likely to go up in flames then EV’s though EV’s that do are usually a worse fire. Part of this may be because EV’s are relatively new and bought by well to do people while our ICE fleet contains some fairly old cars in crappy condition.
I think the OP is a rant in search of a problem. With a small side of preemptive pearl-clutching.
Will some idiots complain when an Li-ion bus goes up in smoke? Sure. Will the idea that EV school busses are super-dangerous capture the public imagination? Probably not. Will I be wrong in this prediction? We’ll see.
No matter what happens to anything anytime anywhere, somebody with an online following will try to get clicks by saying it’s the result of a conspiracy and somebody else with an online following will try to catastrophize this as a new thing to fear.
That’s simply the dull drone of the WWW running. Kinda like the sound of a distant freeway, we just have to get used to it. Society is still learning, but it’s learning pretty fast.
We have mandated school bus evacuation drills, I believe mandated by the state. Does the OP believe these aren’t effective in getting kids off the bus before it becomes a good place to make s’mores?
With no numbers whatsoever to back this up but I’d bet that there are more old, beater ICE cars catching fire than new ones still under warranty. Given the scarcity of 10 year or older EVs I think a fair comparison would need to include age of car/model year.
The OP is simply a claim that the novelty of EV bus fires will ensure an overwhelmingly negative response that will overcome any/all logic to the contrary.
Once one assumes our society is utterly juvenline / ignorant / irrational, then yes, everything, new or old, is something to fear. But the fault is in the assumption, not in the consequences of the assumption.
Even an ICE bus is still at risk of lithium fueled infernos. A modern school bus likely carries as many lithium batteries as it does student backpacks. This is already a recognized concern in the boating world.
The airline world too is concerned that there’s a Li-ion battery in nearly every carry-on, purse, or pocket. They’re prohibited in checked luggage, but because that restriction runs on the honor system and the public is not honorable, we know that’s an abject fail too.
We carry equipment to manage & contain battery fires. And have trained the FAs to handle these fires of passenger-carried gizmos. Which are happening although none disastrously so. Yet.
Cargo jet fires involving Li-ion in cargo is a whole 'nother kettle of very nasty fish.
I know that when my workplace receives anything containing lithium ion batteries, the box has a big label on it indicating the presence of the batteries with a warning that it can only be sent via cargo flight.
But the OP is kind of jumping the gun in that there hasn’t, as far as I know, been any EV school bus fire nor has anyone called for the banning of EV school buses. There’s enough stupidity in the world that there’s no need to imagine new ways people can be dumb.