Fisker Karma Is First Car To Burn Underwater

The plight of the infamous, and quite inflammable, Fisker Karma (not to mention its now defaulted battery vendor A123) has been extensively documented on these pages in the past. Today, we bring it up again, to observe a curious extra feature which its proud buyers may have been unaware of. It appears that, as Jalopnik reports, the car only free government loans with a 0% (or even negative) IRR hurdle rate could conceive, is now the first one to proudly announce it is the only one of its type that merrily burns down... while submerged underwater. We fully expect that the next generation of Fiskers will charge at least $995 for this non-optional standard feature. In other news, perhaps it is time for Karma to issue yet another comprehensive total recall of all of its cars due to "fire risk" - the last one seems to have missed a spark plug or two: they can say this is a recall for the risk of "burning down alive while fully submerged undewater."

From Jalopnik:

Approximately 16 of the $100,000+ Fisker Karma extended-range luxury hybrids were parked in Port Newark, New Jersey last night when water from Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge apparently breached the port and submerged the vehicles. As Jalopnik has exclusively learned, the cars then caught fire and burned to the ground.

Our source tells us they were “first submerged in a storm surge and then caught fire, exploded.” This wouldn’t be the first time the vehicles, which use a small gasoline engine to charge batteries that provide energy to two electric motors, had an issue with sudden combustion.

h/t Yen Cross

Comments

[akak]

You forgot the rest of the reaction:

2H₂ + O₂ + (heat of reaction) = 2H₂O + (much more heat) + (BOOM!)

[TerraHertz]

But wait, aren't the cells completely sealed? I'm pretty sure they are. So the 'expected reaction' when submerging a lithium ion cell is... electrolysis of whatever is electrically connected to them. With high voltage from a lot of cells in series, make that violent electrolysis.

But this is true of _any_ battery system. Why act as if lithium cells are somehow guilty of some special hazard here?

As for 'anyone have any relevant experience'... why yes. Ask the engineers at Fukushima what happens when live electrical systems are submerged in salt water.

Now if these ridiculously expensive, gov-subsidized cars had also created a ten thousand year heavy radioactive contamination area when they self-immolated, I'd be upset. Instead of laughing my arse off.

[kedi]

If they have lithium batteries, this can happen. The lithium has a high oxygen content, so provides it's own air to burn. The batteries likely shorted in the water, heated up to combustion level. My old employer made some lithium battery packs that were used underwater. Occasionally this would happen. You need a water tight compartment for the batteries, with a fuse inside the compartment in case of external shorting. Lithium is very hard to extinguish.