Ship abandoned off Alaska after electric cars on board catch fire

HELLFIRE

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/05/zodiac_maritime_electric_car_fire/ – Water, water everywhere, but it would just make it worse

… The good ship Morning Midas - a roll-on, roll-off ferry that was delivering 3,000 vehicles from Yantai, China, to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico - is currently around 304 miles south of Adak, Alaska, the US Coast Guard tells us. The sailors on the vessel, operated by UK-based Zodiac Maritime, noticed the fire at around midnight UTC on 3 June and were unable to stop the conflagration. …

Regards

HooRU

China builds them better, just ask the CCP.

real_aurgathor

Maybe they should ship them with very little charge in the batteries – just enough to get them on/off the ship – that should lessen the chance of catching them on fire en route, In addition, switching to less flammable chemistry should also also help, but that would involve more work.

HooRU

There are emerging battery forms, I hope for something safer than What we have now!

real_aurgathor

HooRU There are emerging battery forms, I hope for something safer than What we have now!

LFP batteries are already is use by several makers/vehicles, and they are much less likely to catch fire than most other Li-ion chemistries. However, switching batteries takes time, and some of the others have slightly higher capacity.

Somewhat-Reticent

EVs, especially “smart” ones, should be shipped in shielded containers,
protected from salt-water spray..

real_aurgathor

Cars are usually transported on RoRo ships, so containering them would be complicated.

There are simpler options to deal with potential self ignitions such as having them parked separately in a fire hardened area, and possibly having mobile dividers placed between the EVs to prevent fires from spreading.

Astyanax

Burn baby burn I say! Not at the expense of anyone’s safety of course but China has been overproducing then dumping their EVs into Mexico circumventing tariffs for a long time now.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mexico-china-ev-automakers-1.7386314

Almost 19% of the entire Chinese EV industry was financed by the CCP between 2009 and 2023.

BEIJING — China spent $230.8 billion over more than a decade to develop its electric car industry, according to analysis published Thursday by the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The scale of government support represents 18.8% of total electric car sales between 2009 and 2023, said Scott Kennedy, trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at CSIS. He noted the ratio of such spending to EV sales has declined from more than 40% in the years prior to 2017, to just above 11% in 2023.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/21/china-spent-230-billion-to-build-its-electric-car-industry-csis-says.html

Bobcat00

Astyanax Burn baby burn I say! Not at the expense of anyone’s safety of course but China has been overproducing then dumping their EVs into Mexico circumventing tariffs for a long time now.

Nice hot take but not much evidence. Your own reference does not back up the leaps you make.

real_aurgathor

Astyanax

Astyanax China has been overproducing then dumping their EVs into Mexico circumventing tariffs for a long time now.

What tariffs are circumvented by the export of cars to Mexico?

Astyanax

Bobcat00

Bobcat00 Nice hot take but not much evidence. Your own reference does not back up the leaps you make.

Then obviously you didn’t read the article.

There was a 60 per cent surge in shipping container exports from China to Mexico in January 2024 from the same time last year, according to an analysis by shipping intelligence firm Xeneta, with the author suggesting the possibility that China is using Mexico to circumvent tariffs by the U.S.

Here’s the link to Xeneta referenced in the article:

https://www.xeneta.com/blog/weekly-container-rate-update-l-week-11-24-intriguing-evolution-of-china-trades-into-mexico-and-us-west-coasts

Bobcat00

Astyanax What is that Xeneta link. Some blog looking at it’s web address. Not clicking on that. Dismissed.

assailant

real_aurgathor What tariffs are circumvented by the export of cars to Mexico?

Did you read the reference?

real_aurgathor

Astyanax

You presumably read your own link (or at least some of it) but I’m not sure if you understood some very important details in it.

In a previous post you were complaining about “[China] circumventing tariffs for a long time ”, and shipping cargo to Mexico first would be a good way to try to avoid high tariffs.

However. the high tariffs were introduced in 2025 while the article was written in March 2024, and you even quoted 2024.

There was a 60 per cent surge in shipping container exports from China to Mexico in January 2024 from the same time last year,

real_aurgathor

assailant Did you read the reference?

Yes.

But maybe you should try to answer the question instead of asking a largely irrelevant question.

assailant

real_aurgathor Yes.

Good. The answer was in the reference.

HELLFIRE

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/11/ship_electric_fire/ – Tug reaches flaming ship carrying electric cars off Alaska coast

… On Monday, the tug Gretchen Dunlap arrived to survey the scene. There’s no report that it has managed to secure a line on the abandoned vessel, but given the weather conditions - 45-50 knot winds and six foot (1.8 meter) seas - it could be rather difficult. …

Regards

real_aurgathor

assailant Good. The answer was in the reference.

Then quote the alleged answer.