{"id":386840,"date":"2025-07-04T11:10:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T09:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=386840"},"modified":"2025-07-04T11:10:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T09:10:29","slug":"fiery-deaths-for-electric-buses-and-autos-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=386840","title":{"rendered":"Fiery deaths for electric buses and autos continue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Duggan Flanakin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A little over three years ago, the Felicity Ace<\/em> was carrying 3,965 vehicles when a fire broke out in one of the electric vehicles on board the transport ship. The fire quickly spread out of control, and the entire crew was evacuated before the ship sank into waters 10,000 feet deep. The vessel held 189 Bentleys, 1,110 Porsches, and the very last Lamborghini Aventadors; estimated losses for Japan\u2019s Mitsui OSK Lines totaled at least $500 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 3, it was \u201cd\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again,\u201d when the Morning Midas, <\/em>which had been carrying nearly 3,000 vehicles \u2013 including 78 fully electric and 680 hybrid vehicles \u2013 from China to Mexico sank in the North Pacific Ocean in international waters off Alaska\u2019s Aleutian Islands chain. As had happened with the Felicity Ace<\/em>, the Morning Midas<\/em> was victimized by an electric vehicle fire that left the vessel some 5,000 meters below the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pro-EV bus website evfiresafe.com, as of January 2024, had identified<\/a> at least 27 e-bus high-voltage battery fires since 2010 while noting that fires can break out in any vehicle. As these two nautical tragedies (thankfully, no one died) indicate, the difference is that electric vehicle fires are much more difficult to extinguish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jose Del Solar, assistant vice president at the professional services firm WSP, says that <\/a>\u201celectric vehicle (EV) fires experience extremely high temperatures and explosive hazards within the battery cells. Gases in the batteries, such as hydrogen fluoride, can explode, and the resulting toxic fumes and smoke can cause breathing irritation.\u201d He added that there is a \u201c60 to 80 percent higher concentration of hydrogen fluoride in an EV vehicle fire than what is present in an internal combustion engine fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WSP further noted that fire codes created for diesel-fueled vehicles are inadequate to address battery-electric bus fires (or any electric vehicle fire). There are significant costs for upgrading fire protection wherever these vehicles are stored in both equipment and personnel training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These statements suggest that cities and other purchasers of battery-electric fleets (as well as individuals who purchase an EV) should spend the money on fire protection and training before they commit to high-dollar purchases of these \u201czero-emission\u201d vehicles that emit huge quantities of toxic emissions when they burn for hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, found this out<\/a> the hard way back in January when four brand-new battery electric buses operated by the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative went up in smoke while charging. These buses, paid for with multiple taxpayer-funded grants, were so new they had not carried a single student to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, this community\u2019s fire department had the training to contain and control (but not fully extinguish) the bus fires within three hours. But the fires still released harmful pollutants into the air and left behind a huge pile of refuse that was costly, and difficult, to clean up. Moreover, two school districts that had counted on these buses had to scrape and scrounge to find other ways to transport children to and from school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As journalist John Goreham mused, the battery-electric vehicle advocacy community frequently points out that battery-powered vehicles are less likely to catch fire than conventionally powered vehicles<\/a>. However, this does not make it any less tragic when such a huge amount of taxpayer money is converted to air pollution in an EV school bus fire. This small community had forked over about $375,000 (plus $20,000 for a charger) for each bus, or about $1.6 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just last month, over 150 firefighters spent hours battling a massive fire at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) facility that investigators later found was caused by a faulty battery on a Proterra battery-electric bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natalie Neysa Alund<\/strong><\/a> June 5, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 150 firefighters in Eastern Pennsylvania battled a massive blaze<\/a> at a major Philadelphia transportation depot yard after dozens of buses went up in flames at the yard in the early hours of June 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire broke out sometime around 6 a.m. ET at Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority\u2019<\/a>s (SEPTA) facility in the 2400 block of Roberts Avenue near Pulaski Avenue<\/a>, the Philadelphia Fire Department reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facility is in the city\u2019s Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood, about seven miles north of downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly before 6:30 a.m. ET, firefighters responded to the depot for a report of multiple buses on fire<\/a>, SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer told CBS News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the scene, SEPTA worked to pull out unaffected buses to facilitate better access for firefighters, PFD said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially reported as a two-alarm fire at 6:30 a.m., the number of vehicles on fire, coupled with large plumes of black smoke, quickly escalated the situation to a three-alarm fire. Firefighters confirmed that they had the scene under control by 8:10 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What caused the Philadelphia bus fire?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cause and origin of the fire are under investigation by the Fire Marshal\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire destroyed approximately 40 buses, including 15 decommissioned electric buses<\/a>, which Sauer suggested could explain how the fire started. A similar electric bus caught fire in 2022<\/a> at a separate SEPTA depot, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The buses that caught fire were \u201cgetting ready to go to the scrap heap<\/a>,\u201d said Andrew Busch, SEPTA\u2019s director of media relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is SEPTA?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEPTA is a public transportation authority servicing five counties in and around Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was created by the state\u2019s legislature in 1963 and is one of two transit authorities in the United States that operates all five major types of terrestrial transit vehicles<\/a>: regional rail, buses, trolleys, subways, and a high-speed line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to its website, the authority connects to transit systems in New Jersey and Delaware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little over three years ago, the Felicity Ace was carrying 3,965 vehicles when a fire broke out in one of the electric vehicles on board the transport ship. The fire quickly spread out of control, and the entire crew was evacuated before the ship sank into waters 10,000 feet deep. The vessel held 189 Bentleys, 1,110 Porsches, and the very last Lamborghini Aventadors; estimated losses for Japan\u2019s Mitsui OSK Lines totaled at least $500 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":386844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691836312,691822352,691826272,691835762,691818154,691836313,691836314,691835848],"class_list":{"0":"post-386840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-battery-cells","9":"tag-electric-vehicle-ev","10":"tag-ev-bus","11":"tag-morning-midas","12":"tag-net-zero","13":"tag-philadelphia-bus-fire","14":"tag-septa","15":"tag-the-felicity-ace","17":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/OIG-34.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1CDm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":275221,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=275221","url_meta":{"origin":386840,"position":0},"title":"Will Soaring Insurance Costs Derail the EV Revolution?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"23\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Four hundred ninety-eight\u00a0electric vehicles\u00a0(EVs) and over 3,200 other vehicles, including 350 Mercedes Benzes, were bound for Egypt on the Fremantle Highway\u00a0when one or more of the EVs caught fire, costing at least one seaman his life and injuring several others. Curiously,\u00a0the Dutch coast guard\u00a0had initially reported that only 25 of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/066384460_605.jpg?fit=1199%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/066384460_605.jpg?fit=1199%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/066384460_605.jpg?fit=1199%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/066384460_605.jpg?fit=1199%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/066384460_605.jpg?fit=1199%2C674&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":241314,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=241314","url_meta":{"origin":386840,"position":1},"title":"Norwegian Shipping Company Bans Electrified Vehicles Over Fire Fears","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Norway\u2019s Havila Krystruten is one of two shipping companies that sails between the coastal cities of Bergen and Kierkenes and says that it will no longer carry electric or electrified vehicles on its ships following the results of an external investigation.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1046.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1046.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1046.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-1046.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":381768,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=381768","url_meta":{"origin":386840,"position":2},"title":"When Lithium-Ion Batteries Set Sail: Another Warning to be Ignored by the Climate Technocrats","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/06\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On June 4, 2025, the\u00a0Morning Midas\u2014a cargo ship loaded with over 3,000 vehicles, including approximately 800 electric and hybrid models\u2014was left adrift in the Pacific Ocean after catching fire 300 miles southwest of Alaska\u2019s Adak Island.\u00a0Thankfully, all 22 crew members were safely evacuated. 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This was announced by the water authority in The Hague on Monday. The new, less dangerous anchorage is about 16 kilometres north of the island of Schiermonnikoog,\u201d Germany\u2019s NIUS.de\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"CO2\"","block_context":{"text":"CO2","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=co2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/1breaking-cargo-ship-carrying-electric-vehicles-is-burning-near-ameland-in-the-netherlands_5-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/1breaking-cargo-ship-carrying-electric-vehicles-is-burning-near-ameland-in-the-netherlands_5-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/1breaking-cargo-ship-carrying-electric-vehicles-is-burning-near-ameland-in-the-netherlands_5-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/1breaking-cargo-ship-carrying-electric-vehicles-is-burning-near-ameland-in-the-netherlands_5-1.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":383395,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=383395","url_meta":{"origin":386840,"position":4},"title":"Morning Midas and\u00a0Chums","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/06\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Morning Midas caught fire about ten days ago. 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The\u00a0European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)\u00a0is expected to classify lithium carbonate, chloride, and hydroxide\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Lithium-cube-illustration.jpg?fit=979%2C489&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Lithium-cube-illustration.jpg?fit=979%2C489&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Lithium-cube-illustration.jpg?fit=979%2C489&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/0Lithium-cube-illustration.jpg?fit=979%2C489&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=386840"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":386845,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386840\/revisions\/386845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/386844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=386840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=386840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=386840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}