Flash floods & electric vehicles

[Osu817]

Theoretically, they should be able to drive through any depth of water, surely? The thing that needs air in an electric car is the driver!

 

[eddie49]

Pssst, want to buy a battery mate? Yours for only £10K. say no more

Batteries, and other major EV components such as inverters/motor controllers, are all VIN-coded, and often this write operation can only be done once on a factory-fresh new component, so exchange of used items is not possible.
I speak as the owner of a "spares or repairs" Citroen C-Zero with a faulty inverter....

 

[the snooper]

Batteries, and other major EV components such as inverters/motor controllers, are all VIN-coded, and often this write operation can only be done once on a factory-fresh new component, so exchange of used items is not possible.
I speak as the owner of a "spares or repairs" Citroen C-Zero with a faulty inverter....

I'll believe that works when I see it, if it were that simple why are they not doing it now ? Also someone will find a way round it as usual

 

[redlig]

Theoretically, they should be able to drive through any depth of water, surely? The thing that needs air in an electric car is the driver!

And don't even think of all the water filling every nook and cranny so it can quietly rust the car from the inside . If you want to go boating buy a boat.

 

[brightspark]

anyone that goes through a flood is a fool and deserves what they get thick or what

 

[redlig]

anyone that goes through a flood is a fool and deserves what they get thick or what

Totally agree. My excuse: House flooded then poked a piece of hedge in my eye trying to clear a drainage channel so off to A& E stopped in floods and lost the motor . Trudged to nearby farm to ask for permission to leave car . Got back to car soaked to skin to arrange a pick up when SWMBO told me that the local radio had just announced that a local superbike racer that I knew had died at Mallory while practicing that afternoon. That put everything in perspective.

 

[jimbo84]

Batteries, and other major EV components such as inverters/motor controllers, are all VIN-coded, and often this write operation can only be done once on a factory-fresh new component, so exchange of used items is not possible.
I speak as the owner of a "spares or repairs" Citroen C-Zero with a faulty inverter....

There's a garage swapping out Nissan batteries for newer/new units. It's not something you can do on your drive easily, they get a company in holland (I think) to write them some software to make them compatible. Works well and if they get the software in advance it's all done in a day.

Once the removed battery isn't any good for an EV they still have a decent value and are sold for solar storage.

 

[mtt.tr]

Nothing, they are better wet protected than most BMWs

 

[rtcosic]

Reports now of houses burning down when an E-Bike has shorted and gone up.
The big nasties are that its usually an internal short that provides the ignition, then the resulting fire is a chemical one so you cannot extinguish it by starving it of air... cos it doesn't NEED air. Also the fumes are highly toxic.
So - you cannot put out the fire, and you can be killed by the fumes before the flames burn your house down anyway.
How long before Insurance Co's cotton on and exclude fires from any kind of EV / Lithium Battery from your Policy Cover?
The highest risk of a battery shorting (when there's no load i.e. parked-up) are under charging. So, putting your e-bike or EV on charge overnight while you sleep upstairs.....

I am puzzled that LPG cars are not allowed in the Channel Tunnel yet EVs are allowed in. Seemingly they are also allowed on the car deck of ferries.

A new version of the Herald of Free Enterprise waiting to happen?

Theoretically, they should be able to drive through any depth of water, surely? The thing that needs air in an electric car is the driver!

The battery, inverter and other magic boxes of clever imps draw lots of cooling air. Or water depending on the vehicles rated wading depth!

Now old school all mechanical diesel engines with a Snorkel.....

 

[OJCar]

Now old school all mechanical diesel engines with a Snorkel.....

Ideal for the North Circular, but would need to proceed on E-Motor only with in the TFL Low Emission zone.

 

[RWD3M]

anyone that goes through a flood is a fool and deserves what they get thick or what

When does a puddle become a flood?

I'm just saying. 2 feet of water is a puddle to a tractor or HGV perhaps, yet a flood to a 70's Mini. Saying that, 3" of water is a flood to a '70's Mini!

 

[GRW]

When does a puddle become a flood?

I'm just saying. 2 feet of water is a puddle to a tractor or HGV perhaps, yet a flood to a 70's Mini. Saying that, 3" of water is a flood to a '70's Mini!

People tend to wreck engines by going to fast through floodwater. Also some cars have a very low level air intake which exacerbates the problem. If you have to then very slow, slip the clutch and keep the revs up (to stop water flooding up the exhaust pipe) and steady is the way to go. People tend to panic and try to get through the water as quickly as possible and drown the car.

 

[RWD3M]

People tend to wreck engines by going to fast through floodwater. Also some cars have a very low level air intake which exacerbates the problem. If you have to then very slow, slip the clutch and keep the revs up (to stop water flooding up the exhaust pipe) and steady is the way to go. People tend to panic and try to get through the water as quickly as possible and drown the car.

Oh, you don't need to tell me, I completely agree.

I'm an old ahnd at driving through deep puddles, there's a regular one local to me that @redlig possibly knows (the river Avon at Kellaways?) that I have driven through numerous times, often having to navigate around broken down vehicles! And all this in my lowly X Type. Diesel, Air intake at the top of the grill.

I did have to turn back on one occasion a couple of years ago though. Not because the puddle was too deep but because, for the car ahead of me, it was a flood!

 

[8ob]

Seeing all the flash flooding in London and surrounding areas what happens to electric vehicles when they get flooded? I can only imagine there is an awful lot of unsafe voltages flying around?

Perhaps its time to deal with the flooding issues, much of it due to neglect and budget cuts. The maintenance of many streams, rivers, ditches, gulleys and culverts have been neglected/forgotten about because we have had a decade or so of drier summers, our ancestors never hand dug all these ditches that have been slowly filled in with carp for fun.

Bob

 

[OJCar]

Perhaps its time to deal with the flooding issues, much of it due to neglect and budget cuts. The maintenance of many streams, rivers, ditches, gulleys and culverts have been neglected/forgotten about because we have had a decade or so of drier summers, our ancestors never hand dug all these ditches that have been slowly filled in with carp for fun.

Bob

Quite a lot of dredging etc is now blocked on Environmental grounds.

EG the Environment Agency stopping the dredging at Cockermouth because of the trout .
(for those that don't know, the Normans moved the river course when they built the Castle and the river has been dredged ever since without killing off the trout ... )

 

[redlig]

Oh, you don't need to tell me, I completely agree.

I'm an old ahnd at driving through deep puddles, there's a regular one local to me that @redlig possibly knows (the river Avon at Kellaways?) that I have driven through numerous times, often having to navigate around broken down vehicles! And all this in my lowly X Type. Diesel, Air intake at the top of the grill.

I did have to turn back on one occasion a couple of years ago though. Not because the puddle was too deep but because, for the car ahead of me, it was a flood!

Also used that route many times both wet and dry. Always amazed at the guy on the corner with a 'few' cars in the garden.

 

[bricol]

Of the cars I own . .

Alfa 159 - air filter is below wheel centre line behind the front bumper - the inlet into it is low down, coming from higher up, but not exactly sealed. Doesn't help the ECU is alongside the battery at headlight height . .

Dodge - filter box is above wheel centre line - but pulls air into it from the volume in-front of the passenger side front wheel, below centre line.

1991 Lancia - filter box is well up the inner wing . .. but the inlet trumpet is rigght behind the n/s headlights, just above the front bumper . . .

1991 Pug 106 - filter box is behind the engine and inlet into it is reasonably high up, but connect to an inlet above the grille.

So I'd not be able to repeat what I did a few times with a 1984 Renault 11 - the air filter, and its inlet, were up on top of the engine - so you could cross still flood water at such a speed that it could be slopping over the front of the bonnet, but the bow wave formed allowed the engine to sit in the depression behind it and as the electrics were up high too, it kept running - although I must admit, when it floated, lifting the front wheels off the ground and somewhat arresting forward motion, I got a bit worried . . . took a while to get the water out of the headlights too . .

Of course, if something big was coming the other way, ignoring everyone else, it was in danger of getting swamped

 

[badabec]

Citroen DS, raise the suspension to high. Air intake higher than the engine

 

[indy4x]

Never had a problem water wading in this

It was a 'little' higher that a standard Frontera, have done water wading where it has come over the bonnet and into the cab through the heater vents

 

[500e]

Wife sunk our Mini pick up water came in up to her waist, going for job interview I did not laugh