Readers have heard of Teslas spontaneously exploding over the years (read: here) but never an electric bus until now.
Last Friday, a video surfaced online of French public transport operator RATP's bus bursting into flames within seconds in Paris. The fire illustrates the dangers of EVs. Luckily the bus wasn't crowded, and passengers were able to exit quickly.
AFP notes that all 149 electric buses manufactured by Bollore SA have been taken off the road.
"The bus driver immediately evacuated all the passengers. Nobody was hurt," RATP said. The city's fire department said the blaze took 30 firefighters to extinguish.
This isn't the first time one of these buses caught fire. On April 4, in central Paris, another bus experienced a similar explosion.
In both incidents, there were no injuries. The video is shocking because it shows only a few seconds for the lithium batteries to ignite, giving occupants inside the bus barely any time to exit.
First responders in many parts of the world aren't adequately prepared nor trained to handle lithium battery fires amid the proliferation of EVs on streets and highways.
It takes +20 tons of water to extinguish a Tesla vehicle battery fire. A combustion engine needs, on average, 3 tons of water to extinguish. Not so ESG-friendly are EVs?