Fire Story

 Couple of weeks ago, I talked about a bus depot down in Stuttgart which caught on fire.  Whole open building, with 20 buses parked under the canopy....burned up.  So the authorities have come to say that the starting point of the fire was a E-Bus....that was in the process of re-charging.

Focus picked up this story, and then discussed this.  They can point out four fires in the past five years, which lead back to E-Buses, and another two fires which are still under investigation but believed to be a bus re-charging event.

Just buses?  Well....if you go look around in the news....about every month or two....an E-Bike fire also erupts, during the charge-up process, and there's some suggestions that E-Car fires are also occurring.

So there is this discussion going on with the safety folks.....that around each of these recharging stations....there needs to be some safety mechanism and some type of fire-control system.  How this would work?  Unknown. Cost?  Again, an unknown.

Here's the thing that I wonder about.  We are marginally into the 'E-era' and these noticeable fires being part of the acceptance of E-Buses, E-Bikes, and E-Cars.  I just can't think of anyone much (German or American) who'd accept a risk factor in the range we are discussing.  Nor can I think of many firemen who want to venture into some bus depot.....to fight a fairly toxic fire involving a battery-bus.