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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hurricane Helene caused at least 6 EV fires in Florida, according to state officials.</li><li>Saltwater can corrode lithium-ion batteries, leading to short-circuits and fires.</li></ul>Soon after Hurricane Helene barreled into northwestern Florida, local government officials <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1886706438505288&amp;ref=sharing">shared footage</a> of an electric vehicle catching fire in a flooded garage.The video, posted by Pinellas County officials on social media, came with a warning for EV owners about the risks posed by salt water, which can corrode lithium-ion batteries and cause them to short-circuit and overheat. Don't "charge, drive, or store your EV or E-bike in your home or garage,"the post said. It recommended they "move the EV or E-bike 50 feet away from any other combustible material" and "have the vehicle towed to a dealership for inspection."Florida officials said on Tuesday that they had <a target="_blank" href="https://myfloridacfo.com/news/pressreleases/press-release-details/2024/10/02/fire-safety-alert-cfo---state-fire-marshal-jimmy-patronis--lithium-ion-batteries-are-ticking-time-bombs-in-wake-of-hurricane-helene">since confirmed 16 lithium-ion-battery fires</a> related to Hurricane Helene's storm surge, six of which were in EVs. Electric golf carts, e-bikes, and other battery-powered devices are also a hazard. The fires led Florida's chief financial officer and fire marshal, Jimmy Patronis, to call on automakers to be more proactive about notifying customers about moving their EVs to higher ground ahead of a storm (as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-helene-electric-vehicles-evs-owners-fire-risk-safety-tips-2024-10">Gov. Ron DeSantis</a> did before Helene arrived) and about what to do if an EV is flooded."It's not too late for these manufacturers to send out notifications and fire safety information directly to their consumers," Patronis said in a statement, adding that his office was coordinating with emergency responders to make residents aware of the risks.The warnings come at a critical time for the EV industry. Consumer demand for EVs has been slower than expected this year, and Republicans including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-elon-musk-tesla-electric-vehicle-tax-credit-oil-2024-7">JD Vance have attacked the industry</a> in the run-up to the presidential election in November. J.D. Power has forecast that EVs will account for 9% of the market this year — a figure the group <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jdpower.com/business/resources/jd-power-revises-ev-retail-share-forecast">revised down from 12% because of slower adoption</a>. Surveys have suggested that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-charging-range-improving-americans-still-dont-want-electric-cars-2024-9">Americans are a lot more concerned about finding chargers</a> than safety, but viral videos of EV fires could fuel skepticism.Brent Gruber, the executive director of J.D. Power's electric-vehicle practice, told Business Insider that because of the recent fires, his team planned to begin tracking consumers' concern about EV fires.Some data from the Transportation Department and Tesla suggests EVs catch fire less often than hybrid or gas-powered cars on the road or in crashes. Saltwater storm surges during Hurricanes Ida, Ian, and now Helene pose a risk to lithium-ion batteries, but it's not clear how often EV fires occur during extreme weather events.A spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its data on vehicle fires was limited to fires after fatal crashes. The agency said that since Hurricane Ian struck Florida in 2022, it has monitored reports of EV fires during coastal storms in the southeastern and northeastern US and in California. It said reports of EV fires resulting from saltwater flooding came only from Florida."More research is underway to better understand the interaction of high-voltage battery systems and saltwater immersion," the spokesperson said. They added that the agency had proposed updating some safety requirements for EV batteries to reduce the risk of these fires.Albert Gore, the executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, which represents EV makers like Tesla and Rivian, told Business Insider that manufacturers had done a lot of outreach over the past decade to local fire departments about EV-battery safety. He emphasized that the fires seemed to be limited to coastal regions where saltwater storm surge is a risk and argued that EVs in general are much less likely to catch fire than gas-powered vehicles."The most important piece of information to communicate is if you live in an area where there's a risk of hurricanes and storm surge, it's really important to move that vehicle to higher ground," Gore said.Several fire departments along Florida's coastline told Business Insider that they'd been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-vehicle-fires-what-to-know-2023-11">educating their emergency responders</a> and the public about how to prevent and put out EV fires since Hurricane Ian in 2022.Kelsey Grentzer, a spokesperson for the government in Pinellas County, which covers St. Petersburg and Clearwater, said that so far during Hurricane Helene, emergency responders in the county had been called out to at least 93 vehicle fires. Grentzer said they were still analyzing the breakdown of how many were gas cars versus EVs.Heather Mazurkiewicz, a spokesperson for the North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District, which covers Naples, didn't have an exact figure for Helene but said the district had been taking the problem seriously."There's no predictability as to how or when a fire will start from the battery compartment. They're extremely volatile," Mazurkiewicz said.Even after an EV battery fire appears to be extinguished, lingering stored energy can cause what's known as a "thermal runaway," a cycle of overheating and over-pressurizing. Putting out the battery fire can require more than 10,0000 gallons of water, Mazurkiewicz added.The volatility was on display in the Pinellas County officials' viral video. The EV owners <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/electric-vehicle-catches-fire-garage-destroys-home-during-hurricane-helene">told a local Fox affiliate</a> that they narrowly escaped their home in Siesta Key as it became engulfed in flames and that they didn't know that a small amount of flooding could ignite the EV.

Viral videos of EVs catching fire after Hurricane Helene raise safety concerns in Florida

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV owners to move vehicles to higher ground before Hurricane Helene arrived.</li><li>If an EV gets caught in flood waters, don't try to restart it, Tesla says.</li></ul>Ahead of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-damage-port-strike-could-hurt-us-economy-2024-9">Hurricane Helene'</a>s arrival in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged electric vehicle owners to get their vehicles to higher ground."Be careful about that getting inundated," he said at a news briefing last week. "It can cause fires."Helene, which began as a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quartz-mine-computer-chips-hurricane-helene-spruce-pine-semiconductor-2024-9">category four hurricane</a>, made landfall in Florida on Thursday before moving northward into Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.So far, it has killed at least 110 people, with hundreds more still missing. Around 2,000 people are still without power, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/crejvrzxgjpt">BBC</a>.Amid the chaos, DeSantis' warning over electric vehicles is warranted, experts told Business Insider — and there are things EV owners should do to keep safe.<h2 id="8e9aa090-3fa8-490d-8625-f1461ba5147f">What EV owners should do</h2>Tesla and the American Automobile Association (AAA) echoed DeSantis' advice to get to higher ground before any possible flooding.If an EV has already been submerged in water, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tesla.com/support/submerged-vehicle-guidance">Tesla</a> warns owners not to attempt to start their vehicle.Instead, it recommends safely towing or moving a vehicle at least 50 feet from buildings or combustible material after an authorized engineer has examined it.However, it should still be treated with caution. Once the water recedes, the damage caused by submerging an EV in water remains.Richard Bucknall, head of mechanical engineering at University College London (UCL), told BI that lithium batteries in EVs "can short circuit if flooded, especially in seawater, leading to immediate overheating and potential fire and explosion.""No road vehicle should be considered roadworthy after saltwater flooding, whether it's an EV or anything else," Haresh Kamath, director of distributed energy resources at the Electric Power Research Institute told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2022/10/26/electric-vehicle-fires-florida-flooding-what-happened/10553207002/">USA Today</a> after Hurricane Ian hit Florida in 2022."If you've experienced saltwater flooding, you should not be driving or trying to drive or even start that vehicle. You shouldn't be getting into the vehicle."<h2 id="6415ca88-384b-4498-84a1-28fe02cd06a0">How big is the risk?</h2>The risks to EVs during flooding have been studied for several years, although stats are limited.According to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-helene-electric-vehicles-fire-flooding-0284e2eb2accc0570361def4e963eda0">Associated Press</a>, Hurricane Ian compromised the batteries of as many as 5,000 EVs, with 36 catching fire.Lithium reacts violently with water and releases hydrogen gas in an exothermic reaction, with the gas catching fire. "Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect container where violent storms are concerned so it isn't a surprise to me or other engineers [that they could catch fire]," said Bucknall.According to Tesla, the number of fires in electric vehicles is significantly lower than in petrol and diesel cars. It <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tesla.com/VehicleSafetyReport">found</a> that between 2012 and 2022, around one Tesla vehicle fire occurred for every 130 million vehicle miles traveled.By comparison, data from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nfpa.org/en">National Fire Protection Association</a> and the US Department of Transportation indicates that one vehicle fire occurs in the US for every 18 million miles traveled.Adam Wojcik, a professor at UCL's Department of Engineering, said that EVs are less likely to catch fire than petrol cars. However, in a situation that involves flooding and contact with saltwater, the risks are higher."The only way of setting petrol on fire is with a spark, and it's probably unlikely that you would get a spark in a situation that is not a crash or an accident," he told BI."But if water gets into EV batteries, that's a different matter altogether."<h2 id="71d2bbb3-6bf7-411d-9fdf-d62b21d9e69c">Demand for EVs is stalling in the US</h2><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="media-ui-Link_link-tVkXhPLPofs-" href="https://about.bnef.com/">Last year, BloombergNEF</a> <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-11-07/the-57-trillion-ev-market-is-a-battleground-for-china-us-eu">forecast</a> the total value of all forms of EV sales will hit $8.8 trillion by 2030 and $57 trillion by 2050.President Joe Biden set a target of having EVs make up half of all new cars sold in the US by 2030. However, demand for EVs in the US is falling.Only 34% of US shoppers planning to buy a vehicle in the next two years say they're likely to buy an EV, down from a year earlier.That's according to EY's annual <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ey.com/en_us/newsroom/2024/09/us-consumers-less-likely-to-purchase-an-ev-than-last-year">Mobility Consumer Index</a>, which surveyed 20,000 respondents in 28 countries who said they were considering buying a new car in the next 24 months.As <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-charging-range-improving-americans-still-dont-want-electric-cars-2024-9">Business Insider previously reported,</a> this may be partly due to the fact that electric vehicle shoppers are now much more difficult to please than the enthusiastic early adopters of years past.Safety doesn't appear to be the main concern — at least for now. Around 24% of potential buyers cited range limitations as a top concern (and 23% said they were concerned about finding a place to plug in (down from 34%).

Ron DeSantis said EVs could catch fire if caught up in Hurricane Helene. Experts say he's right — and that you should take these steps to protect yourself.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Electric vehicles in the coming years will be capable of powering homes and the grid.</li><li>Automakers and utilities are testing so-called bidirectional charging, or V2H AND V2G, technology.</li></ul>In the not too distant future, many electric vehicles could be mini power plants on wheels. General Motors <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/29352399.3781/aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdtLmNvbS9uZXdzcm9vbS5kZXRhaWwuaHRtbC9QYWdlcy9uZXdzL3VzL2VuLzIwMjIvb2N0LzEwMTEtZW5lcmd5ZWNvc3lzdGVtLmh0bWw_dXRtX2NvbnRlbnQ9SW5zaWRlcl9TdXN0YWluYWJpbGl0eQ/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eBf0efd320" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow sponsored">this week announced it's heading in that direction</a>. A new business unit, GM Energy, has a line of electric-vehicle chargers that can also feed power back to homes and the electric grid. The pros refer to it as bidirectional charging. The Chevy Silverado EV, set to go on sale in fall 2023, will have this capability. GM is also planning a pilot project with California's Pacific Gas and Electric Company next year that would let a subset of residents use the new chargers and have backup power during outages, which are on the rise amid intensifying heat waves and wildfires. Eventually, EV owners could sell the energy stored in the battery to the grid and get paid. "We're at a transformative time in the nexus between the utility and the automotive industries," Paul Doherty, a spokesman for PG&amp;E, told Insider. "There's a value stack in EV batteries: supporting the grid, serving as backup power for your home, and also reducing greenhouse-gas emissions." Doherty said PG&amp;E is considering pilots with other automakers, including Ford and Tesla, to test what he called "managed charging." In an ideal world, EVs would discharge energy to the grid during peak demand hours from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and charge outside that window when solar is abundant and cheap, he said. Mark Bole, GM's head of V2X, or vehicle-to-everything, and battery solutions, said such a scenario isn't far off. GM Energy has a cloud-based tool that manages charging and energy data, which could connect with utilities and alert customers via a mobile app when to juice up. Aside from PG&amp;E, the automaker is also working with utilities like New York's Con Edison and the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. GM Energy also rolled out a partnership with SunPower, a major US residential solar installer, that will offer customers a home-energy system that includes solar panels and stationary battery-energy storage. It's not unlike <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/29352399.3781/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbnZlc3RvcnMuc3VucnVuLmNvbS9uZXdzLWV2ZW50cy9wcmVzcy1yZWxlYXNlcy9kZXRhaWwvMjM2L3N1bnJ1bi1wYXJ0bmVycy13aXRoLWZvcmQtdG8tcHJvdmlkZS1zZWFtbGVzcy1pbnN0YWxsYXRpb24_dXRtX2NvbnRlbnQ9SW5zaWRlcl9TdXN0YWluYWJpbGl0eQ/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eB60f597e7" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow sponsored">a partnership Ford announced with Sunrun</a> last year. The Ford F-150 Lightning also has bidirectional charging, which proved useful after Hurricane Ian pummeled southwest Florida's power grid. Ford CEO Jim Farley <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/29352399.3781/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9qaW1mYXJsZXk5OC9zdGF0dXMvMTU3ODQ0NDMwMjI5NTc4MTM3Nj91dG1fY29udGVudD1JbnNpZGVyX1N1c3RhaW5hYmlsaXR5/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eBeeeea32d" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow sponsored">tweeted that there was </a>a 127% increase in people using their trucks as power sources to run lights, refrigerators, and smart devices. Some EVs, however, <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/29352399.3781/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucm9hZGFuZHRyYWNrLmNvbS9uZXdzL2E0MTU3MzAxNS90ZXNsYXMtZmxvb2RlZC1kdXJpbmctaHVycmljYW5lLWlhbi1hcmUtc3BvbnRhbmVvdXNseS1pZ25pdGluZy1pbi1pdHMtYWZ0ZXJtYXRoLz91dG1fY29udGVudD1JbnNpZGVyX1N1c3RhaW5hYmlsaXR5/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eBa6981d63" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow sponsored">caught fire as saltwater corroded</a> their lithium-ion batteries. It's still early, but Sunil Chhaya, a senior technical expert at the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute, said that within the next five years, he expects all EVs will have these two-way capabilities. It's unclear at this point whether consumers and businesses will buy in, he added. "What is it worth to the customer?" Chhaya said. "The business case for somebody to take on the hassle of connecting and investing in all this expensive equipment has to be clear."

Electric vehicles will become power plants on wheels by providing backup power for homes and the grid

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Viral videos of EVs catching fire after Hurricane Helene raise safety concerns in Florida

Catherine Boudreau

Ron DeSantis said EVs could catch fire if caught up in Hurricane Helene. Experts say he's right — and that you should take these steps to protect yourself.

Hannah Abraham

Electric vehicles will become power plants on wheels by providing backup power for homes and the grid

Catherine Boudreau

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