California sells more electric cars than any other state, many of which in Southern California have turned into rubble during the recent Los Angeles wildfires. And while lithium-ion batteries present in EVs do not burst into flames often, when they do they produce fires that are extremely hot and take significant water to extinguish. When the fires are out, they will leave behind a lot of toxic waste to clean up. It is a new headache and presents an irony about electric cars—the very things supposed to help the environment are being burned by a wildfire started by global warming, and the batteries are leaving behind more damage to the environment.
According to data from S&P Global cited by Bloomberg, there were over 431,000 Teslas in operation in the Los Angeles area as of October 2024. That does not include vehicles from other brands.
EV vehicle fires can take tens of thousands of gallons of water to put out, because the lithium-ion inside the batteries can create oxygen when burning, meaning a lot more water is necessary to cool the burning pack. Tesla publishes guides for fire departments that instruct them on how to extinguish fires from its vehicles. General Motors has previously provided four-hour training sessions to first responders on how to stop stubborn fires that will not go out.
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