Those electric vehicles that are gonna save the world or whatever — well, lots of them just became a primo fire hazard in Florida:
A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian.
EV batteries that have been waterlogged in the wake of the hurricane are at risk of corrosion, which could lead to unexpected fires, according to Jimmy Patronis, the state's top financial officer and fire marshal.
"There's a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start," Patronis tweeted Thursday. "That's a new challenge that our firefighters haven't faced before. At least on this kind of scale."
It's not exactly the ideal way a fireman wants to spend his afternoon:
As a side note, Jimmy Patronis is also the state's top fire marshal, so we can assume he knows what he's talking about.
Electric vehicle technology is exciting. It also has serious drawbacks. Let's stop pretending otherwise.
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