Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been dealing with a lot lately, including a devastating hurricane.
The Sunshine State recently took a direct hit from Hurricane Idalia which hit the state’s Gulf Coast at nearly Category 3.
The fear of devastating destruction and massive loss of life was bad enough.
But then, just ahead of the hurricane making landfall, the state’s government issued a shocking warning to electric vehicle (EV) owners.
Florida’s State Fire Marshal and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis warned EV owners in areas that could be hit by the storm surge to move them to higher ground.
“We saw a number of fires associated with EVs from Hurricane Ian,” Patronis said. “We know that the saltwater from storm surge can compromise these batteries, causing fires which cannot be easily suppressed. The best fire teams can do is keep water on the battery until the fuel burns out. If you’re evacuating and leaving an EV, or other lithium ion powered devices like scooters or golf carts in your garage, you’re creating a real fire threat for your home, your communities, and first responders.”
Patronis said he witnessed a Tesla that caught on fire after Hurricane Ian last year that firefighters couldn’t put out.
“Take this threat seriously,” Patronis added. “If there’s even a small risk of your EV being impacted by storm surge, move it to higher ground before it’s too late.”
Hurricanes and other natural disasters are exposing yet another major hazard of EVs to add to the already growing list of problems.
Last year, Teslas and other EVs exploded all across Florida during Hurricane Ian after being flooded by the storm.
The mixture of salt water and the corroding electric battery creates fires that are extraordinarily difficult to put out because of the extreme heat they generate.
And the battery packs in EVs can even reignite days after the initial fire was put out.
Tesla says that it could take up to 8,000 gallons of water to put out a fire, eight times the amount needed for normal gasoline-powered cars.
And that means fire departments in Florida had their hands full handling the massive number of EV fires after Hurricane Ian.
“Anytime you mix electrical components and salt water together, it is a recipe for disaster,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue’s Stephen Gollan told News Nation.
In fact, the likelihood of spontaneous EV fires after Hurricane Ian was so dangerous many tow truck drivers refused to pick them up.
One tow truck driver, Tim Baker, told ABC News that an EV he hauled back to his lot caught on fire there.
“They have the potential to catch fire pretty much any time,” Baker said.
The mad EV push by Joe Biden is giving coastal Americans one more problem to deal with during any future storms.
But it seems Joe Biden and the radical Left couldn’t care less what harm they cause in the pursuit of their radical agenda.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
