Tesla batteries burning in Los Angeles wildfires represent a paradox about sustainability

California sells more electric cars than any other state, and many of them in Southern California were reduced to rubble during the recent Los Angeles wildfires. Although lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles do not catch fire very often, when they do, they produce extremely hot fires that require a large amount of water to extinguish. When the fires go out, they will leave behind a lot of toxic waste that must be cleaned up. It’s a new headache and a paradox when it comes to electric cars — things that are supposed to help the environment get burned in a wildfire started by global warming, and the batteries leave behind even more damage to the environment.

According to data from S&P Global citing BloombergThere were more than 431,000 Tesla vehicles operating in the Los Angeles area as of October 2024. This does not include vehicles from other brands.

Electric vehicle fires can take Tens of thousands of gallons of water They must be extinguished, because the lithium-ion inside the batteries can produce oxygen when burning, which means a lot of water is needed to cool the burning pack. Tesla publishes manuals for fire departments instructing them on how to extinguish fires from its vehicles. GM has previously provided Four-hour training sessions for first responders About how to stop stubborn fires that won’t go out.

Electric vehicles come with a set of unique drawbacks to consider — they’re often very heavy, which poses problems for road infrastructure, for example, and charging too many EVs can put a strain on electric utilities. These are some of the reasons why some urbanites oppose electric vehicles altogether, arguing that people in cities should use public transportation if they truly want to support a green future. They come with contradictions.

Bloomberg I spoke to one firefighter about how previous fires on Maui gave them a game plan for cleaning up batteries in Southern California:

Protocols developed during the 2023 fires on Maui will be used in Los Angeles, said San Diego firefighter Robert Rezende, who specializes in the dangers of lithium batteries and will help with the cleanup efforts. But the scale of this event and the risks are much greater.

“The state has seen other fires, but none to this extent in urban areas, with many neighborhoods and buildings where you would expect to see more electric vehicles and other energy storage systems,” Rezende said. “We expect a very significant lift.”

On Maui, the EPA shipped more than 30 tons of lithium batteries from more than 1,400 properties for recycling.

Electric vehicle fires are Very rarewhere the National Transportation Safety Board detected approximately 25 fires for every 100,000 electric vehicles sold.

Electric motors don’t generate a lot of heat, so fires most often occur in serious accidents when the battery ruptures and the chemicals and sensitive elements inside become unstable, releasing heat and then creating a self-perpetuating cycle of uncontrollable heating. Of course, high heat from an external source such as a forest fire can also cause the battery to overheat.

Unfortunately, since electric cars have huge batteries, there will now be a lot of toxic waste to remove and try to recycle. Rain can cause toxic pollutants to reach the ocean if not cleaned up in time.

To be sure, countless studies show that the life cycle emissions of electric cars will be as well 70% less than gasoline or dieseleven accounting for mineral extraction or shipping. Unless you lean toward the more extreme end of the spectrum and believe cars should be eliminated entirely, electric vehicles will likely still be better than alternative gas options.