Vigo said:Well, this has been a silly dogpile considering the batteries on the bikes didn't start the fire and that basically anything with anything flammable in it would have lit off in this situation. I.e. any fueled vehicle. I'd say this is a lot more a case of putting all your eggs in one basket than it is a telling commentary on battery power.
Yes and no. A gas fire is well known enough to be able to extinguish before it gets too bad. Heck, it's a reasonable assumption that tracks have fire systems specific to deal with gas fires (CO2 dump is what we have in enclosed facilities, or if VERY enclosed, a massive water dump).
But a reasonable question is- are we ready to deal with battery fires? If an EV actually supported combustion for 5 days, then I'd suggest that the answer is "no" at this point. Tracks and emergency response teams do need to be prepared for this kind of fire.