Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 3rd Aug 2009 08:47 UTC, submitted by anonymous
I think we just found out why we aren't hearing more stories of exploding and burning iPods. Ken Stanborough had to throw his daughter Ellie's iPod Touch outside, because it got too hot to hold, and he could see vapour. Within 30 seconds, he could see smoke, he heard a pop, and the Touch went 10ft into the air. After contacting Apple, the company denied liability, but offered a refund. However, Apple said that in accepting the money, Stanborough was not allowed to talk about the existence of the agreement - or else Apple would sue him. Update: Apple told Sky News Online that the letter with the gagging order is standard practice.
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Member since:
2005-07-08
"The Li-ion batteries in cell phones and other gadgets are not much better protected than ordinary batteries were. In cars you would only get batteries which are inside crash-resistant cases, temperature conditioned and protected against shorting."
That is true but for EVs to really take off they will be coming from the likes of BYD in China in huge volumes, rather than Tesla in drips. At least BYD makes the cells so it should know them inside out but Chinese cars are still unproven in western markets.
"The remaining risk will be equivalent to today's gasoline driven cars."
We have seen gas SUV rollovers igniting on TV recently and some dramatic rescues of occupants, but the fuel didn't all explode in one go, took a few minutes to burn up into a fireball. We haven't seen a single Li Ion EV crash yet to see how it will play out. I would want to see such dramatic crash tests before putting my family in one. There have been Prius crashes but those are for Nickel Hydride.
"By the way: Gasoline is way more dangerous than diesel, yet most people in the USA still buy gasoline driven cars. If you want to ignite a pot full of gasoline, all you need is a lit match or a small spark.
This does not work for diesel. You can extinguish a lit match in a pot full of diesel."
The reason Diesel is hardly present in the US is because of the EPA regulations regarding diesel particulates based on the old technology. The EPA should probably let the newer VW diesels in once it factors in the lower CO2 vs other emissions. Interesting that VW is getting much better results for diesel than any EV for the highest mpgs, see their 282mpg 1 liter prototype.
And the best for last.
Treehugger just posted an update on EEStor at
http://theeestory.com/topics/2529
If this pans out, lithium and most all batteries get replaced by supercaps with extreme amounts of charge storage, a long story in its own right.