Thread: Sunken Electric Dreams

Originally Posted by Hoges

For what it's worth...

Was reading John Connolly's usual quirky motoring column in this week's Weekend Aus.
He reports that a car transporter known as the Felicity Ace, loaded with top end vehicles "Lambos, Bentleys, Porsches and sundry electric cars, has sunk off the Azores in 3,000m of water as a result of a major fire attributed to one of the electric vehicles on board (which he describes "iPad holders, cunningly disguised...") Apparently the ship "turned turtle" while under tow by a Belgian tug.

I haven't seen any evidence or credible suggestion that an electric car was to blame for the fire: reportedly the harbourmaster in the Azores said that lithium batteries burning made it hard to put the fire out but there's no proof that the electric batteries started the fire - maybe that's a distinction that Connolly didn't understand?


The cause of the fire is unknown .... Salvors had been working to battle the blaze, but their efforts were hampered by lithium-ion batteries in some of the electric vehicles on board, according to port officials.
Burnt Car Carrier Felicity Ace Sinks


As a reminder, the cause of the fire is still unknown even though several media reports are trying to link it to the electric vehicles onboard.
VW confirms that some ID.4 electric SUVs were lost in infamous cargo ship fire (Update: Felicity Ace sinks) - Electrek


In fact, electric cars are 60 times less likely to burst into flames:
EVs may not have sparked cargo-ship fire, but they’re a raging inferno | Driving

They're just harder to put out ....


As we covered last month, a large cargo ship, the Felicity Ace, laden with about 4,000 vehicles onboard caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Putting out that fire would seem to be a fairly easy task since there’s all kinds of water.
Felicity Ace With Cargo Of Electrified Cars Has Sunk

Nope: ship fires involving cars are notoriously difficult to put out, EVs just add to the difficulty.

Originally Posted by Hoges

For what it's worth...

Was reading John Connolly's usual quirky motoring column in this week's Weekend Aus.
He reports that a car transporter known as the Felicity Ace, loaded with top end vehicles "Lambos, Bentleys, Porsches and sundry electric cars, has sunk off the Azores in 3,000m of water as a result of a major fire attributed to one of the electric vehicles on board (which he describes "iPad holders, cunningly disguised...") Apparently the ship "turned turtle" while under tow by a Belgian tug.
My neighbour some time ago bought a Hyundai/Kia all electric ...later received an urgent letter advising him NOT to park it in his garage because it might spontaneously catch fire for reasons they had not yet determined... seems to be parked in his garage more often than not these days....

"Keep Calm and Carry On"

Suspicious me wondered whether they in fact eventually chose her watery grave of 3000m so the cargo could not be salvaged but she sank, write it off & to stop any other parties trying to recover some of her cargo. No proof of how the fire started (???) etc so lets get on with it, make a claim & get it sorted. Seems to me some one stands to make a pretty penny out of her.


Your neighbour must be a bit of an idiot then after being formally advised & then keep storing it under cover& if it does light up one day/night it can only end in tears with Insurance questions & with them ducking & diving about a payout.

On board fires with car carriers also happen with petrol powered cargo.

Scroll down the page:

Bumper Cars / M/V Modern Drive

Heaps of other fun stories on that site.

DL

Picked Redflow Zinic bro flow batteries for work at the time lithum was causing fire concerns on airlines about 10 years ago. The two EVs parked underneath me have not escalated our home insurance or stress levels

About to post about what happened in My D3 today as the EV was left in the garage for a change

PS I love sinking as deep as possible Especially if a Crayfish or other tasty thing comes back up with me

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

Picked Redflow Zinic bro flow batteries for work at the time lithum was causing fire concerns on airlines about 10 years ago. The two EVs parked underneath me have not escalated our home insurance or stress levels

About to post about what happened in My D3 today as the EV was left in the garage for a change

PS I love sinking as deep as possible Especially if a Crayfish or other tasty thing comes back up with me

About to post about what happened in My D3 today as the EV was left in the garage for a change

Well come on then, I haven't got all night.

Originally Posted by 4bee

Suspicious me wondered whether they in fact eventually chose her watery grave of 3000m so the cargo could not be salvaged but she sank, write it off & to stop any other parties trying to recover some of her cargo. No proof of how the fire started (???) etc so lets get on with it, make a claim & get it sorted. Seems to me some one stands to make a pretty penny out of her.

The whole cargo was a write-off as soon as the fire started: it didn't need to sink for that. And as I understand it, the salvage team wouldn't gain from it sinking and the Portugese navy were there in any case.

And this will probably still be being litigated 10 years from now, so no-one is going to make a quick buck from it.

BTW ..... when we lived in London there was an open day when you could visit key sites in London, including Lloyds.

We got to see the floor of Lloyds ("the Room") which is where the underwriting occurs and one of the most interesting things was the gigantic book (an actual book, each page about 60 cms wide) in which they write the details of each lost ship insured by Lloyds. It's still done by hand and using a quill and ink.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

BTW ..... when we lived in London there was an open day when you could visit key sites in London, including Lloyds.

We got to see the floor of Lloyds ("the Room") which is where the underwriting occurs and one of the most interesting things was the gigantic book (an actual book, each page about 60 cms wide) in which they write the details of each lost ship insured by Lloyds. It's still done by hand and using a quill and ink.

Lloyds of London got it's name from a coffee shop were insurance brokers used to meet.