Issues Don't Look Good For The Mercedes EVs On This Burning Cargo Ship
The ship’s cargo included round 3,000 autos. In line with a Reuters report, 350 of those automobiles have been Mercedes-branded, and round 25 of which have been electrical autos. Whereas the exact explanation for the hearth has not but been recognized by both the ship’s crew or rescue personnel, the predominant principle is that the preliminary spark got here from one of many EVs — particularly from a chemical response of their batteries.
Footage reveals smoke billowing from a cargo ship that caught hearth off the coast of the Netherlands within the North Sea, killing not less than one particular person and injuring a number of. https://t.co/5yz62ZqNXx pic.twitter.com/S4ebIuq4r3
— Sky Information (@SkyNews) July 26, 2023
“Electrical automobiles burn simply as a lot as combustion engine automobiles. When batteries overheat and a so-called ‘thermal runaway’ happens, then it will get harmful,” Uwe-Peter Schieder, consultant of the German Insurance coverage Affiliation, defined to Reuters. “A chemical response within the battery produces gases which inflate the battery.”
The surviving members of the crew have been rescued from the scene through helicopter airlift, and are at the moment present process remedy for accidents together with damaged bones, extreme burns, and smoke inhalation.
“There was lot [sic] of smoke and the hearth unfold shortly, a lot sooner than anticipated,” Royal Dutch Rescue Firm member Willard Molenaar informed reporters. “The individuals on board needed to get off shortly … We fished them out of the water.”
The present state of the autos aboard the ship is unknown, although they’ve greater than possible been broken past restore within the blaze. That is the most recent of EV-induced ship fires, with a earlier incident occurring in February of 2022 off the coast of Portugal.
