Bikes and equipment too, apparently...ouch:
Bikes and equipment too, apparently...ouch:
LiPo fires coming to a Lemons race near you soon. I hope they have a plan in place.
There’s a reason why they don’t want lithium battery cargo on planes.....
Ouch. That's gonna be a setback. I guess they're lucky that the GP bikes weren't in the same garage as the E bikes. Burn all the GP bikes before the first race of the season and I doubt you get invited back to the party.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
That is not a LiPo fire, that is a LiOn fire. LiPo is nearly immune to such fires, LiOn is nearly immune to extinguishing. This is very important, and the prime reason the EVSR race car is LiPo.
From my understanding, LiPo is the type more likely to self-ignite during a charge while Li-ion is safe to charge unattended...I don't know which is easier to put out.
I know nothing about battery fires, but I am eagerly awaiting cheap second hand electric motorcycles. I wonder if this was a hardware issue or what, since there are a rapidly growing number of electric vehicles on the road and except for crashes you never hear about spontaneous battery fires.
If you are interested , check out Google about the electric motocycle/scooters they have in Taiwan ,
When you are running out of "juice" your scotter tells you the closest recharge shop ,
You pull in and they switch batteries in a couple minutes and you are back on the road.
Seems like a simple solution to the running out of power problem .
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Another hobby of mine has been using LiPo batteries longer than autos. They burn nice and hot. Plenty of videos of it if you want to look. I probably have 20 of them in various sizes right now. There is a reason why people store them in flame resistant containers. Yes you can discharge them to inert, but they hold a lot of thermal energy otherwise.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Lithium polymer (lipo) just means that it's a lithium ion battery using a polymer elecrolyte instead of a liquid one. Lithium ion and lithium polymer use the same chemistry, and are both susceptible to fire if damaged. The far-less-toasty variant is a different chemistry, LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate).
I predict this will facilitate a popular shift away from electrics and toward the safety of vehicles propelled by non-flammable fuels like, um, gasoline.
The latest news I found said, "The cause of the fire is currently being investigated, but the latest statement by the organisers clarifies that “no motorcycles were charging at the time of the incident in the box in which the fire started”. So, I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet that the batteries were to blame for the start of the fire.
stuart in mn said:The latest news I found said, "The cause of the fire is currently being investigated, but the latest statement by the organisers clarifies that “no motorcycles were charging at the time of the incident in the box in which the fire started”. So, I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet that the batteries were to blame for the start of the fire.
Not necessarily consider that many fires in auto shops over the years have traced to a cars electrical system and many of them when they are left overnight. So battery could definitely be a possibility.
Yes, but there's a difference between could be a possibility and a foregone conclusion.
stuart in mn said:Yes, but there's a difference between could be a possibility and a foregone conclusion.
Maybe rule out a tossed cigarette? 
On the plus side, before this thread I was unaware of MotoE, so they got some needed publicity out of the whole mess. Is there a team named Phoenix Racing? If so, I put my money on them for the next race.
MotoE announces that the cause of the fire is... a short circuit.
https://www.motorsport.com/motoe/news/motoe-cause-of-fire-disaster/4353463/
So we have confirmation. These electric motorcycles burned to the ground due to an electrical fire.
1988RedT2 said:I predict this will facilitate a popular shift away from electrics and toward the safety of vehicles propelled by non-flammable fuels like, um, gasoline.
Bravo...Well played SIR. :)
In reply to boxedfox :
I figured they require short circuits due to limited range. It would be a boring race if they did one lap of the ring.
In reply to T.J. :
I was just going to ask whether this could have been avoided by racing at the Isle of Man...
boxedfox said:MotoE announces that the cause of the fire is... a short circuit.
https://www.motorsport.com/motoe/news/motoe-cause-of-fire-disaster/4353463/
So we have confirmation. These electric motorcycles burned to the ground due to an electrical fire.
Ok, that's fine...I just get annoyed with speculation before the facts come out.
It doesn’t really matter what starts a lipo fire. Once they start burning, there will be lots of collateral damage.... in this case all the cycles.
AnthonyGS said:It doesn’t really matter what starts a lipo fire. Once they start burning, there will be lots of collateral damage.... in this case all the cycles.
Consider Richard hammonds crash with the rimac ,the car actually burned for 5 days due to the density of the flammable batteries.
Well, this has been a silly dogpile considering the batteries on the bikes didn't start the fire and that basically anything with anything flammable in it would have lit off in this situation. I.e. any fueled vehicle. I'd say this is a lot more a case of putting all your eggs in one basket than it is a telling commentary on battery power.
In reply to Vigo :
I disagree, you just dismissed the fact an electric powered vehicle burned for five days.... classic if you ignore a problem it doesn’t exist.
These batteries aren’t inert harmless objects. The technology will improve until it does, this issue needs to be considered not just dismissed because electric power is en vogue.
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