Norwegian Shipping Company Bans Electrified Vehicles Over Fire Fears
By Paul Homewood
One more problem for the ill thought out EV agenda!
Norway’s Havila Krystruten is one of two shipping companies that sails between the coastal cities of Bergen and Kierkenes and says that it will no longer carry electric or electrified vehicles on its ships following the results of an external investigation.
The company mostly carries passengers and goods on the route, but now says that it will only carry private vehicles with internal combustion engines. Havila Krystruten cited fire safety as the main reason for its decision.
While it is not clear what led the company to run the external investigation, fears of fires on ships were stoked by a recent incident in the Atlantic. The Felicity Ace caught fire at sea last year and, although the cause of the fire has not been determined, there were vehicles with batteries aboard the ship, leading to speculation that they may have been responsible for the blaze.
While research shows that, per capita, internal combustion vehicles catch fire more frequently than electric vehicles, Havila Krystruten pointed to its ships’ firefighting capabilities as the reason for its decision, rather than the frequency of fires.
“This is a pure safety assessment, and the conclusion of the risk analysis shows that a possible fire in fossil vehicles will be able to be handled by the systems and the crew we have on board,” said Bent Martini, the company’s managing director, as translated by Google. “A possible fire in electric, hybrid or hydrogen cars will require external rescue efforts and could put people on board and the ships at risk.”
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Wise. They must know a thing or two about these dubious cars.
Maybe some clever I.C.E. salesman could use this news in their advertising campaign ?
Safety and range – oh year and costs, all fail.
These virtue signalling Noddy cars should know their place and stay as convenient milk floats.
And the milk floats are safer as they use lead acid batteries.
Frying tonight.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/boston/news/tesla-electric-car-fire-wakefield-challenge-firefighters/
I wish I was called Bent Martini.
I used to know a guy called Odd Willi….
Oh dear……
Surely, the shipping company could put all the electric cars on one deck and in the event of a fire, just tip them all into the drink?
A solution would be to put several catapults on the top deck and load EVs on them. A fire would auto-release the tension and fling the vehicle into the sea. Over time a new reef would be assembled for creatures to colonize. Win – Win.
My idea of hell: car deck of a ferry stuffed with battery EVs and hydrogen fuelled trucks, with a forecast of Storm 10 imminent.
Green Flag came to my ICE car when the battery ran flat and said that they were loathe to touch EVs in accidents because of high voltage shocks.
The battery is supposed to self-isolate in the event of a shunt or more. However, it seems that it doesn’t always work. An EV managed to wreak havoc in our road on New Year’s Day. From a standing start, over about twenty feet, it glanced off two vehicles, hit our car at 45 degrees and swung it around 90 degrees and into a fifth vehicle, hit a pedestrian (serious leg injuries), broke two front walls and a bay window. Neither airbags nor self-isolation worked.
Wait till domestic fire occurs, home insurance!
To repeat your comment in the previous article, Paul, the wheels are coming off!
Inch by inch the message is seeping through: the downside of attempting to use electricity to replace the internal combustion engine far outweighs any upside.
There is no climate crisis; there is no immediate need to replace petroleum products as transport fuel; direct research to something useful and affordable.
Do it now!
You are Germany, you now make EVs and you employ thousands of skilled well paid workers. Previously you exported quality cars all over the world, all had a good reputation. Now you cannot put your cars on a ship. Which of the following is the correct procedure:
1. Sack your workers – tell them to get on their bikes
2. Buy your own cargo ship
3. Buy your own insurance company
4. Let China find a way
5. Revert back to ICE cars
It will be Option 4 who will use Options 2 & 3 leading to Option 1 in Germany.. At that point it will be too late for Option 5
EVs are deadly in every way
Does anyone know if EV’s are more prone to damage in flooding of the sort we often get when 6 inches or so of water covers a road for 30 or 40 yards. What about 1 foot of water, a depth which starts to get hazardous for ordinary vehicles to be fair
Flood waters can cause electric vehicles to catch on fire—and some did after Ian. Why experts aren’t alarmed
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-10-electric-vehicles-fireand-ian-experts.html
ICE vehicles do have a problem if the air intake (and exhaust in some circumstances) for the engine is below the level of the water. Until the vehicle is submerged when water could get in the fuel tank/system an ICE vehicle’s engine should keep running.
I seem to remember a story of a 1960’s pop star (Brian Jones?) putting his Rolls Royce in a swimming pool and the lights staying on until the battery went flat but my memory could be faulty,
My dodgy memory says that was Keith Moon?
Correct, Mike.
“While research shows that, per capita, internal combustion vehicles catch fire more frequently than electric vehicles”
In practically every case the fire is caused by an electrical wiring problem and often the damage is localised, it is relatively rare for the fuel tank to catch fire, especially so with diesels.
Further, even if it takes hold it is very much easier to extinguish a IC vehicle using conventional firefighting equipment than one involving lithium batteries.
Flaming Tesla has to be buried in pit to extinguish battery
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tesla-fire-car-rancho-cordova-b2107186.html
‘while research shows that, per capita, internal combustion vehicles catch fire more frequently than electric vehicles’ – sounds dubious to me; does anybody have any idea where or what this ‘research’ is? A wild guess, perhaps?
”
‘while research shows that, per capita, internal combustion vehicles catch fire more frequently than electric vehicles’ – sounds dubious to me; does anybody have any idea where or what this ‘research’ is? A wild guess, perhaps?
”
A proportion of ICE vehicle fires are apparently caused by hot exhaust systems setting fire to dry grass
As ICE vehicles can range from over 100 years old to one day on the road with varying degrees of maintenance then any comparison must include the age of the vehicle.
The only car fires I’ve had personal experience of, three in total all fairly old, two were caused by electrical issues a faulty light switch pod and an after market music system. The third was a hydraulic leak onto a hot exhaust or similar on a very badly maintained old car.
The only one to survive relatively unscathed (the light switch) was the one with a fire extinguisher in the boot. It was my son’s very old first car and I gave him the extinguisher just in case. I have an extinguisher in my boot – just in case
Note that diesel has a lower ignition temperature than petrol so on a hot surface would ignite first while petrol would likely evaporate, assuming it is not glowing red hot.
However, petrol has a flashpoint of -43°C, whereas diesel has a flashpoint between 52 °C and 93 °C.
Big difference.
It’s not easy to set fire to diesel. Chucking a match onto a pool of the stuff just gets a fizzle.
The trick is to put a dash of petrol on top; works a treat!
When lighting a bonfire it is far safer to use diesel rather than petrol as a lot of people have found out to their cost.
“While research shows that, per capita, internal combustion vehicles catch fire more frequently than electric vehicles” Could be. But are we being told this by the people who told us that Covid jabs were safe and effective, and would stop transmission?
Tip:
New article – paywalled
Wind Turbines Taller Than the Statue of Liberty Are Falling Over
Bloomberg news: January 23, 2023
Who can forget the iconic post apocalyptic scene at the end of Planet of the Greens, with the half buried wind turbine towering up from the sand on the beach:-
“You maniacs! You relied on wind! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!”
I searched the internet for
Wind Turbines Taller Than the Statue of Liberty Are Falling Over
this was my top result
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a42622565/wind-turbines-falling-over/#:~:text=Multiple%20turbines%20that%20are%20taller%20than%20750%20feet,Seattle%20and%20the%20Washington%20Monument%20in%20Washington%2C%20D.C.
Turbine failures are on the uptick across the world, sometimes with blades falling off or even full turbine collapses.
A recent report says production issues may be to blame for the mysterious increase in failures.
Turbines are growing larger as quality control plans get smaller.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-23/wind-turbine-collapses-punctuate-green-power-growing-pains
A web page extolling the virtues of diesel – from just 8 years ago!
https://www.anl.gov/article/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-diesel
In particular note:
“2. If you toss a lit match into a puddle of diesel fuel, it’ll go out.
That’s because diesel is much less flammable than gasoline. In a car, it takes intense pressure or sustained flame to ignite diesel.”
Wont go down with Norwegians who have loaded up on leccy vehicles big time
Electric cars made up nearly two thirds of Norway’s new sales in 2021
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/electric-cars-take-two-thirds-norway-car-market-led-by-tesla-2022-01-03/
They’re gonna need smaller ferries.
If they go to Denmark there’s a bridge giving access to Europe without a ferry.
Battery cars should be banned from road tunnels and the channel tunnel, in fact any rail tunnel where they travel with passengers such as one in Austria. The Euro shuttle compartments can be filled with halon gas to put out normal fires.
Oh yes. Good point thank you.
Well maybe a 21st century milk float could be cobbled together out of a Tesla or one of those pickups. There’s going to be a surplus of ecars soon.
I always thought fresh milk delivered in the morning was very civilized anyway.
I love it
What about cars on electric ferries?
World’s largest electric ferry launches in Norway
https://www.electrive.com/2021/03/02/worlds-largest-electric-ferry-yet-goes-into-service-in-norway/
In the statement “While research shows that, per capita, internal combustion vehicles catch fire more frequently than electric vehicles” can anyone explain to me what exactly “per capita” might mean?
Indeed, it sounds dodgy. Fires per vehicle-mile would be more reasonable. Their ICE figure would include commercial vehicles doing 100s of thousands of fire-free miles, but would be counted as just the same as a low mileage EV.
An interesting development for Norway, as their government has driven EV share of new car sales, to 80% last year.