https://ca.news.yahoo.com/despite-le-bizard-explosion-expert-090057613.html Despite Île-Bizard explosion, expert says electric cars safer than others July 31, 2019 CBC
[image https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/lB9_Df0U5JMbeB8Q.rh8pw--~A/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/cbc.ca/3f8322404b73278fc02f455d77a57d38 Eric Carbonneau/Radio-Canada ] Even though an electric car battery exploded in Île-Bizard last week, blowing a garage door clear across the street, there is no reason to doubt their safety, says the federal government's leading battery scientist. Dean MacNeil, head of the battery testing team at the National Research Council of Canada, said evidence suggests electric cars are safer than ones fuelled by diesel or gasoline. But safety issues with traditional cars don't attract the same amount of attention. "I'm sure everyone's seen a car on fire on the side of the road and not really thought much about it," MacNeil said. "But if it was an electric car, there would be a lineup of people taking pictures and showing it on the internet." Electric car batteries basically operate the same way as a cellphone battery does, he said. The main difference is that they're larger. Whereas a cellphone battery is the size of a credit card, an individual battery cell is as tall as a sheet of paper and about half-inch thick. Those cells are stacked together to form a battery pack, which differ based on the range, performance and price you want to pay for the vehicle. West Island explosion still being investigated The electric car that exploded in Île-Bizard on July 26 blew the door off the garage and sent it across the street. Transport Canada is working with the Montreal fire department and the car's manufacturer, Hyundai, to determine what happened. "The details that will be gathered will help determine the next steps, and whether a full defect investigation is warranted," said Mélany Gauvin, the director of operations at the federal transport ministry. MacNeil said what could have happened may have been as simple as a small mechanical defect inside the battery cell. He speculated that the warm weather on Friday may have sped up the chain of events that led to the explosion, but the heat itself was unlikely the primary cause. MacNeil said there are things that need to be improved with electric cars, but that overall, safety isn't a major issue — he has two children who ride in his electric car and he isn't worried about them. Hyundai Canada would not comment on the explosion but would "push to fully understand the issue as quickly as possible," said public relations coordinator Jasmine Law. [© ca.news.yahoo.com] For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/archive/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
