A Tesla big rig that caught fire kept both directions of California's Interstate 80 closed in the Sierra Nevada for hours on Monday.

A Tesla big rig that caught fire kept both directions of California’s Interstate 80 closed in the Sierra Nevada for hours on Monday.

Cal Fire crews responded to the scene of an electric semi-truck fire around 3 a.m. near Emigrant Gap. California Highway Patrol later confirmed they were dealing with a hazardous materials situation due to potentially toxic fumes from the big rig’s batteries.

First responders say that the batteries of the electric big rig were still burning hours later.

  • TheWeirdestCunt@lemm.eeEnglish
    392·
    2 months ago

    Wait they actually released that thing? I thought they dropped the semi truck design?

    • navi@lemmy.tespia.org
      12·
      2 months ago

      There delivered at least a couple hundred to Pepsi and Fritolay but have been heavily iterating in the design.

    • Addv4@lemmy.world
      7·
      2 months ago

      Nah, they’ve just been really slow about testing it. It’s range is actually pretty impressive, but it requires very high energy superchargers on testing routes.

      • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
        13·
        2 months ago

        Range is one thing, as is acceleration, but the issue all electric semis have is haul weight. They are all bad at actually hauling goods. They have to give up 5-10k in goods carried for each truck, at least. With a standard semi hauling 80k, that’s a huge amount of lost capacity. The actual carrying capacity of the Tesla Semi is one of the data points that they won’t release, which tells you its not something they want people to know.

        Semis are the good use case for clean hydrogen. Batteries won’t fly without radically different chemistries.

        • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          2 months ago

          Hydrogen is a way bigger scam even than anything Musk pushes.

          Frankly, the real solution is for the vast majority of long-haul freight to switch back to rail, and for the remainder to just keep using diesel, but make it out of waste cooking oil instead of squished dinosaurs.

          • Tilgare@lemmy.world
            21·
            2 months ago

            I mean, if we’re talking about real solutions - a highly effective and efficient option would be airships. Could replace mid and long distance freight trucking shipments. Could replace international freight ships too.

  • gothic_lemons@lemmy.world
    27·
    2 months ago

    Engineer: We can’t just put the self driving data from the Cybertruck into the semi truck. They handle compelety differently. Turning radius, weight distribution, acceleration, braking all different.

    Elon: Shut physics cuck and make it happen

    • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
      62·
      2 months ago

      Trucks break down all the time, it’s when, not if nor is Tesla that far off on recent year models of the y and 3.

      The challenge is EV batteries typically are spicy. I hate Tesla but this crap will happen to other companies unless the spicy pillow issue is mitigated.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    Do these things use lithium batteries? Do the sodium ones pose less of a hazard if compromised?

    • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.placeEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      AFAIK, lithium becomes inflammable when in contact with the air (that’s why a battery puncture is so dangerous). Sodium doesn’t, so a fire from a hole in the battery shouldn’t happen.

      • dustyData@lemmy.world
        13·
        2 months ago

        My understanding is that it is not the air, but moisture. Water reacts with the battery chemistry to emit heat which can then turn into flames. But moisture on the air can be enough to trigger a fire. There are videos testing this on YouTube. Puncturing a battery is not instant fire, but it will turn into a fire if exposed for long enough, and water will only feed the chemical reaction, making it worse. Which is why it is so hard to fight battery fires.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
      21·
      2 months ago

      Sodium batteries are much less energy dense than the batteries used for semis.

      Were over a decade a way before it’s even maybe possible. It may never be

      They’ll be great for small commuter cars and energy storage where size doesn’t matter.