(so I had a slightly cringe moment)...
A side impact would probably not breached the pack. The ragged edge of the stump of the broken hydrant or the main hydrant body might have pierced the bottom of battery pack.
Looks like they took the turn too wide and hit the hydrant in the right front.Seriously how often does someone actually hit a fire hydrant? Probably more often than we hear about, but still...
I'd like the see the Sentry Video of the impact, and I'd like to know what the onboard vehicle telemetry and data say about what the driver was doing (attentiveness, which pedals were pressed, etc.)
(Parody) So it's the city of Harlingen, TX's fault because it should've been a CO² or Dry-Chemical fire hydrant there for electrical fires instead of a water fire hydrant! ?
Seriously, it will be interesting to find out what part of the battery was ruptured and soaked for all the 'holes in the Swiss cheese slices' to line up to cause thermal runaway.
Actually, I hope this gets the attention of Sandy Munro to the point they make a video about it.
-ÆCIII
They took a really W I D E turn to hit that fire hydrantLooks like they took the turn too wide and hit the hydrant in the right front.
Doesn't take much to start a fire once you punch through the pack and cans...
Burning lithium batteries of the high energy chemistry types generate their own oxygen. Smothering doesn't work.
When the Model S came out, shortly thereafter there was a high profile battery fire accident after someone ran over a curved piece of metal on the highway and the impact cantilever rocked the metal fragment in a way that it punctured the battery and set it on fire. The next week there was a recall so that they put a titanium plate under all Model S vehicles on the road for extra protection from a road hazard puncture because the media attention was off the charts. I see this as more of the same.
