Electric Bus Goes Up In Flames In London
By Paul Homewood
h/t Philip Bratby
From GB News:
A ‘critical incident’ has been declared after an electric bus was engulfed in flames in London.
Shocking photos show the blaze engulfing part of the road in Wimbledon after the street had been cordoned off.
It is not yet known if anyone has been injured.
Officers from the Metropolitan police have advised people to avoid the area this morning.
A police spokesperson said: "Please avoid the area of Wimbledon Hill Road this morning.
"There will be congestion as the road is blocked off in both south and northbound directions."
A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said they are unsure of the exact cause of the fire.
Delays are expected to be in place throughout the entire morning.
A spokesperson from London Fire Brigade said: "Firefighters have been called to a fire involving a bus on Wimbledon Hill Road in Wimbledon. Part of a double-decker electric bus is alight.
"A 25-metre cordon has been put in place as a precaution and road closures are in place. There are currently no reports of any injuries."
"The Brigade was called at 0721. Three fire engines and around 15 firefighters from Wimbledon, New Malden and Wandsworth fire stations are at the scene."
GB News has approached TFL for a comment.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/wimbledon-bus-fire-pcritical-incident-flame
The fact that three fire engines were called out is an indication of how dangerous this incident was.
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
BBC News show a very brief video of it. The loud bang suggests it was more than just a fire.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67944657
Maybe the tyres blowing?
Twenty’s Plenty – everywhere now ( even outskirts of Inverness) so how do you escape quickly from such events without losing your licence – 30mph v 40mph v 50mph in a 20 or 30 or 40 zone ie 50% over the limit – like drink laws do too. SO exploding tyres ?? ( just slightly O/T )
It was just a guess, having attended several vehicle fires in a previous life I have witnessed such incidents of a vehicles tyres blowing when it’s on fire.
Just as an add on , another electric bus went up in flames in London today Fri 12th .
Clearly somebody has it in for electric buses!
Many moons ago, as a student of architecture in London, I commuted by trolleybus.
Powered through overhead cables, it was an eminently sensible system —quiet, clean and, unencumbered by heavy batteries, good performance.
Not suitable for a net-zero future, though, because they would come to grinding halt when the wind stops blowing…..
…. but the batteries will remain charged ? Tell that the daft people of Edinburgh – would have been so much cheaper than laying rails. & Come to think of it, Can not the batteries be connected to the overhead rails ?
The trolleybuses did have small batteries as they after all were meant to be an improvement of trams which had 1 big disadvantage you couldn’t get around obstacles like badly parked vehicle or over take a broken down tram and a battery was also a contingency if the pantograph became disconnected.
“Not suitable for a net-zero future, though, because they would come to grinding halt when the wind stops blowing…..”
I would say trolleybuses are not suitable for a net-zero® as its a solution which has real world examples demonstrating it is technically feasible and could actually work in the real world. If climate activist actually cared about realistic way of replacing fossil fuels instead of using it as a front for narcissism wind & solar makes as much sense in GW scale electricity grid as using beast of burden to turn generators and only has happens due the subsidy farming racket.
When I lived in Bradford I used the excellent trolley buses – ideally suited to the local steep hills – frequently.
Occasionally one of the connectors came off the overhead wires and it ground to a halt, the driver hopped out and used a long pole to hook it back on again.
I have no recollection of the use of a backup battery.
“I have no recollection of the use of a backup battery.”
I think Bradford was the 1st trolleybus system (early 1910s) in the UK while London’s was the 1930s so I suspect design improvements were made as I recall reading somewhere about a detour a trolleybus driver took indicating at least some of the trolleybuses in London had backup batteries and modern trolleybus systems I have come across have them.
Ipswich had electric trams in 1903 . So the whole system has a lot of history of working , but the new idea of Li Batteries is going to cause a lot more fires and be very expensive .
Which is the main idea of NET ZERO.
Oh dear 😉 think of all the naughty PM2.5 particulates released into Sadist Khan’s pristine London Exclusion Zone. Ten years worth of ULEZ gains lost in a puff of electric smoke.
Well it could keep some impoverished pensioners warm! Also serve to perpetuate the story that climate change is making winters warmer so pensioners can’t be dying of cold.
and all the other exotic particles released on combustion ….. Ooooo the poor young people ( recent Dundee Uni report ) whatever did we do to survive the early years of the last century?
That is what is worrying me . The fire is just a few streets away from the Pelham primary school where my 5 yr old grandson will have been this morning. I hope that the school has stocks of face masks from the last , and in anticipation of the next , covid epidemic. Not very effective probably but better than nothing if the school is enveloped in smoke.
The report mentioned speaks of an explosion then fire , exactly as in the Paris electric bus incident . The Paris authorities then withdrew the buses but i doubt that TFL will do so – it would probably leave them with nothing to transport the commuters.
It’s happened before e.g. this one in Kingston in 2016.
https://www.cityam.com/london-bus-has-burst-into-flames-kingston/
And these
Two electric buses caught fire in garage blaze two years before today’s double decker blast – sparking fears Sadiq Khan’s 1,000-strong fleet is at risk amid push to make all of London’s buses ‘zero-emission’ by 2034
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12951853/London-electric-bus-fire-two-buses-Potters-Bar-Sadiq-Khan.html
It’ll take more than a face mask to keep the fumes from a burning lithium battery from causing harm, hydrofluoric acid is as nasty as it gets..
https://www.prosol.co.uk/motor-trade-articles/hydrofluoric-acid-the-chemical-hazard-hiding-in-electric-and-hybrid-vehicle-batteries/
Never mind the PM2.5. Much of the smoke is hydrofluoric acid, and is extremely nasty. Aim is to wash it onto the road where it corrodes the tarmac before it corrodes your lungs.
Is there still time to drag the burning bus over next to the Just Stop Oil people sitting in the road?
Internal combustion engine fires produce heat and smoke: battery fires emit toxic chemicals. The HSE is still refusing to look at battery hazards in BESS systems and car parks, on political grounds as they say that they are awaiting a parliamentary committee…… what nonsense!
Perhaps we should consult South Korea
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/07/04/whats-behind-south-koreas-battery-fire-accidents/
“A series of 28 consecutive battery fires that occurred in South Korea between 2017 and 2019 led the nation’s energy storage market to complete paralysis.”
Interesting, thanks, having moved my 26′ fibreglass IF-Boat to Gillingham Marina for ease of access and outings for my grandchildren the risk of toxic fumes from the 700 MWh Graveney BESS in an easterly means I shall probably have to reconsider the whole plan.
All my own fault of course because I use a 1100 watt Torqeedo outboard, even Germans involved somehow no doubt in ‘The horror! The horror!’ of Congolese child miners.
Aye, they all using some new Horizon software then too?
Fujitsu is the company – formerly International Computers Limited back when the UK had industrial giants – Horizon is their bullshit Post Office software. Can but hope that their executives will commit hari-kari for their role in the scandal.
I bet the fire service doesn’t have a big enough water tank for it!
In the American Jaguar EV garage fire, also today, the American Fire Department used a blanket at $3000 a time to contain the fire. They had to use 2 as a hybrid also in the garage also caught fire.
It can be seen on MGuy on YouTube
and someone’s going to have to repair that road
Presumably they won’t be just dunking it in a v.large skip full of water.
Towing it away to somewhere safe might be tricky if all the tyres have been in incinerated. Only 25 metre cordon? Really?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12950795/My-daughter-killed-e-bike-fire-change-Grief-stricken-mother-21-year-old-model-died-London-flat-blaze-calls-blanket-ban-electric-vehicles.html
Luckily this sad case of “Spontaneous Combustion” didn’t occur at the garage.
Does this mean London E-Bus fleet will now be grounded and checked?
Not with the virtue-signalling hypocrite Ghengis Khan in charge, no.
Isn’t “virtue signalling hypocrite” a tautology? 😉
or a carbondioxymoron
There was an “Inside The Factory” episode on London eDouble Deckers.
The chassis, drive train and battery come as a unit from China, the UK end just puts the body on and internals
No doubt thanks to Net Zero it is too expensive to make those parts here.
Huh, another one bites the dust .. what was wrong with BRITISH aka Made in Scotland, Alexander’s Coachworks …. typical story, innit ?
I spent a lot of time on Alexander’s Midland Bluebird buses.
“A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said they are unsure of the exact cause of the fire.”
Take a wild guess!
I bet they’re still undecided if its a diesel, diesel/hybrid, LPG or EV
These mobile crematoriums should be banned
I’ve just seen a picture on another site which shows flames erupting from the rear off-side corner – the engine compartment in a conventional bus. This suggests it might not be the battery, but some part of the inverter/control electronics. These will contain large electrolytic capacitors which will certainly go bang if they fail, as well as plenty of high-power MOSFET transistors. Once something in the main power circuit has disintegrated, particularly if this causes a short circuit, it’s likely the supply wiring will overheat and the insulation catches fire. What happens to the battery in that situation is anyone’s guess…
At least the Fire Service got the blaze under control quite quickly.
Article Icon 1Hertz Dumping 20,000 Electric Cars
Hertz is selling off 20,000 electric vehicles (EVs), about a third of its electric fleet, just two years after announcing a major pivot to electric cars. The rental giant will replace the cars with gas-powered vehicles.
Hertz said the electric cars had higher repair costs and were involved in more collisions than its regular vehicles. The used EVs, including Teslas, will be put on the market for consumers to buy at reduced prices.
The news comes as the market for EVs has slowed and inventory is piling up at many car dealers. High repair costs, particularly for Teslas, is not a new issue, though Hertz gave no reason for why the vehicles had more collisions.
The story had no mention of fires.
Today’s London bus fire was in North Woolwich
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12955781/Wimbledon-bus-fire-TfL-electric-buses-service.html
2 in 2 days… Do we get rid of them in 1,001 nights?