The Often Overlooked Problem With Electric Vehicles

On Wednesday, Hot Air posted an article about an often overlooked problem with electric vehicles. Lithium batteries are prone to catch fire when exposed to salt water. So if you live on the coast, you need to get very far away from any incoming hurricane. Unfortunately, the problem does not seem to be limited to exposure to salt water.

The article reports:

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) going boom in the worst places and what to do when that happens.

On Thursday, the 26th of September, on the freeway outside of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, one of “those accidents” happened.

A tractor-trailer carrying large lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught on fire on a highway near the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to road closures and the shuttering of several terminals at the port.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement Thursday night that the fire was expected to burn for at least another 24 to 48 hours and that a roughly seven-mile stretch of California State Route 47, from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach,would be closed in that period.

The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, said that several terminals would be closed on Friday.

The crash in the San Pedro neighborhood on Thursday morning did not result in any injuries, but fire crews were taking precautions to block hazardous materials from potentially spreading from the batteries, one of which exploded, the department said.

The article notes:

In the meanwhile, Hurricane Helene was making a beeline for the Florida Coast, and FL officials were out with warnings about EVs and saltwater not mixing. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV owners this week to get their vehicles to higher ground before Hurricane Helene arrived. Although the problem is rare, there have been a number of instances in recent years of electric vehicles igniting after hurricanes.

Keeping electric vehicles out of standing water is the best way to avoid the possibility of a fire.

Tesla offers similar advice about avoiding letting its vehicles become submerged if at all possible, but if that does happen the carmaker suggests towing the vehicle at least 50 feet away from structures or anything combustible until it can be inspected by a mechanic.

The article also notes that the vehicle may ignite well after you thought the danger was over. There is also the issue of what fumes may be released during the fire or the fact that a lithium fire is very difficult to put out. It really is time to re-evaluate the value of the current generation of electric vehicles.

Just In Case You Wondered…

Who is behind the push to get Ron DeSantis to run for President? Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse posted a video on Sunday that confirms what a lot of us have been thinking.

Here is the video:

The article reports:

Put a fork in the opposition denials to what was increasingly obvious; it’s over.

Last summer we saw the fingerprints of the professional republican apparatus all over the construct that was creating the Ron DeSantis 2024 effort.  The data was all going in one direction, all of the constructs were identical to the Karl Rove playbook with the single addition of the Republican Governor’s Association as a participant.   As the months moved forward the Rovian elements became more and more clear.  The DeSantis supporters tried to deny it, but the truth of the issue is just too obvious.

Now, insider republican political pundit Mark Simone admits that Team Bush and Karl Rove are the specific organizers of the DeSantis 2024 effort.   Appearing on Fox Business, Larry Kudlow asks directly, “who is behind the DeSantis campaign?”   Simone admits, “yeah, it’s Karl Rove – Karl Rove has been advising DeSantis, that’s why he’s been getting a little bit better every week.”

If you like the Washington establishment, Ron DeSantis is your choice for President.

Only Granting Asylum To Future Democrat Voters

Yesterday Townhall posted an article highlighting the double standard in refusing asylum to Cuban refugees.

The article reports:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was highly critical of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies over the weekend while in Texas, asserting that the administration has a “double standard” on allowing Cuban migrants into the country.

“They have a hundred-times stronger case for political persecution leaving a communist dictatorship than the other migrants who are coming across the border who are basically coming across the border because they want more economic opportunity,” DeSantis told host Jesse Watters Saturday on Fox News’ “Watters World.”

“It’s a double standard, but honest, it’s something we expected because I do think a lot of their border policies are very political in nature in its intent,” he continued.

So what is the difference between the Cubans and the caravans making their way through Mexico? The Cubans are fleeing communism. They understand the dangers of both communism and socialism. The caravans are being financed. Many of the people in them are coming to America to become part of the welfare state. Historically, Cuban immigrants in southern Florida have prospered. They have set up businesses and accessed the ‘American dream.’ Historically South American and Mexican refugees have taken low income jobs and put downward pressure on the wages of lower-income Americans. Which group of people has benefited America more? I am not saying that we should close the door on South American and Mexican migration, but we need to put standards on immigration so that the American safety net is not overwhelmed. It is a reasonable guess that those funding the caravans are hoping for a Cloward-Piven moment in America. For whatever reason, there are a lot of very rich and powerful people who want to end American sovereignty and convert America to a socialist country. The American electorate is an obstacle to their plans, so they are planning to change the American electorate.

Learning From Statistics

The two-week lockdown of the economy to flatten the curve of the coronavirus has now lasted almost a year. In some cases when the lockdown was lifted, the cases spiked, and the lockdown was reinstated. However, in other cases, when the lockdown ended quickly, there was no spike in the number of cases.

Yesterday The Federalist posted an article about the success of Florida in dealing with the coronavirus crisis. The article contains a number of graphs, so I strongly suggest you follow the link to read the entire article.

Here are a few highlights from the article:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis started lifting lockdown restrictions back in May, allowing stores and restaurants to begin reopening in all but three counties in South Florida. The stay-at-home order also ended at the beginning of May. Unlike New York and California, Florida never tried to bar people from going to religious services.

At the end of September, DeSantis lifted all remaining statewide COVID-19 restrictions. Traveling back and forth from COVID-conscientious Northern Virginia to Florida, I could notice a difference. In Florida, kids were going to school, wedding parties were throwing receptions, young people were studying at coffee shops, and families were taking Christmas pictures downtown on the square.

…Since April, Florida’s unemployment rate has remained better than New York’s and California’s.

Schools in Florida are open too, and have been since August. My brother goes to one of them. I’ve seen kids playing at recess.

Amid all this, Florida ranks 33rd in pediatric cases per capita, better than California, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The state of New York has not released its numbers on pediatric cases.

…Not only is Florida’s economy enduring the effects of COVID-19 much better than locked-down states, its death rates are below the national average. At the beginning of February, the Heritage Foundation reported that Florida’s death rate was 123.3 per 100,000 residents — a tragic number, but below the national average of 132 people per 100,000.

Florida’s experience is consistent with epidemiological experience and research, as the infectious disease experts who authored the Great Barrington Declaration pointed out last October: “Basic epidemiological theory indicates that lockdowns do not reduce the total number of cases in the long run and have never in history led to the eradication of a disease.  At best, lockdowns delay the increase of cases for a finite period and at great cost. ”

This is also consistent with recent, peer-reviewed research done on COVID spread in different countries that finds lockdowns and their severity have no ultimate effect. Numerous other recent studies make this conclusion.

Florida was also below the national average rise in total deaths per capita, which would include deaths caused by lockdowns in other states. As early as July, CDC Director Robert Redfield said of young people: “We’re seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID.”

Nationally, there was a 16.9 percent increase in total deaths, regardless of cause. Florida’s increase was lower at 14.8 percent. Meanwhile, New York saw a 30.1 percent spike and California’s deaths increased by 18.6 percent.

If the states are considered laboratories to experiment with programs to see if they are successful, the rest of the nation should be following the example of Florida. That would be ‘following the science’ or at least ‘following the statistics.’