This is the first I have seen of a battery fire.

On another note, that SK plant the article mentions in 45 minutes down I-85 from me and is huge at just over a mile long.

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/24/ford-delays-f-150-lightning-production-another-week-after-battery-fire.html

 

If that's the case, Ford was fortunate that it happened before transport, and they did the right thing by shutting down the line to iron things out.

SK has been making cells for other manufacturers for a few years now, so I expect they'll get this ironed out fairly quickly. The LFP batteries they will be using in standard-range trucks later this year have a number of benefits, and fire resistance is one of them.

 

I was scheduled for production 2/27/23 It has moved to 3/27/23. Don't like the delay but then taking a chance the truck might burn down garage and house is also not well liked either. I'll take the delay and hope they found and fixed the problem before building mine. Platinum Star White.

 

That’s a good way of looking at it. I think the bigger significance is the impact of vehicle fires on trust and credibility. Only seven Chevy Bolts caught fire out of 142,000 that were covered in the recall. But a significant portion of those owners lost trust in their cars, and GM suffered a huge hit to their reputation because of the resulting debacle.

EV fires are much less common than ICE fires, but they attract lots of attention for various reasons. Ford needs to get this right so they sell you a truck that you trust.

 

I bet that will be a stunning color in person. I hope you plan to post pictures...

Well, to be fair... There are A LOT more ICE vehicles out there and there have been for decades. Also, a lot of states don't have inspections so if a truck catches fire because it has a rag as a gas cap, well that is natural selection at work.

Trust... That is the thing. Confidence as well. Those cannot be bought, they must be earned. It is incredibly difficult to build trust and confidence in an automobile manufacturer and incredibly easy to destroy it.

I didn't post this article in order to stir the pot or start a pissing match. I thought it was educational and somewhat unbiased. The only reason why it popped up in my news feed is likely because it is a GA plant where the batteries were made and I frequent articles about GA as I like to be informed on what is happening in my back yard. Good or bad, I like to be aware.

 

Latest I have seen is vibration/distortion causes microscopic cracks in the Ceramic cells allowing anode to Cathode Short circuits. Ethelene glycol catches fire and poof. Latest is temps above 110 F. cause battery longevity decreasing. Temps below 32 F also cause battery deterioration. Vehicles go 140 F. easy on a hot day when in a parking lot. Maybe with time and trouble these can be remedied. Batteries have always hated getting shook about. How is your States Highways, full of pot holes, rumble strips, cracks and rough miles. Mine are terrible. So there are basically 3 areas of distress. One are temps when discharging, two, is temps when rapid charging and three are just plain area around the vehicle temps. Not good in my state for sure.
My vote is no for these next couple of generations of EV designs. Junk is my take of now. No need to spend $30,000 on failed batteries for me. The Cost of a F150 starting battery is high enough to me every 4 or 5 years. I'm not saying ya can't take your EV car from an AC garage to work, 5 miles, park in a shady spot / private AC garage spot and not have a great experience. Sure can do. I just don't get the EXEC, PERP.

Daddy came home and got really ticked off at me for having a fire in the corner of the house.
Says there is no fireplace in here! Dang. not my doing!