On June 20, Renee Sanchez was excited to take her 2-year-old granddaughter to the Phoenix Zoo. Early that morning, Sanchez strapped the toddler into the backseat of her Model Y Tesla. After closing the rear door, Sanchez attempted to open the front door. However, it would not open because the battery was dead.
“I could not get in. My phone key wouldn’t open it. My card key wouldn’t open it,” Sanchez told a local news network. In a panic, Sanchez called 911. Within minutes, thankfully, the fire department showed up.
“The first thing they said was, ‘Uggh, it’s a Tesla. We can’t get in these cars,’” Sanchez said. “And I said, ‘I don’t care if you have to cut my car in half. Just get her out.’”
Fortunately, the firefighters used an ax to break the back window. Then, they climbed in and unstrapped the toddler, literally saving her life.
Although the toddler was okay, Sanchez said they both were traumatized by the incident. After her granddaughter was rescued, Sanchez couldn’t help but think, “oh my God, this could have been so much worse.” She was angry. And rightfully so.
“When [the Tesla] works, it’s great. But when it doesn’t, it can be deadly,” she warned.
Make no mistake, this is not the first time someone has been trapped inside an EV. Nor will it be the last.
Less than a week after the Sanchez Tesla incident, an even more dire situation took place when NFL star receiver Randall Cobb’s home burned down after the Tesla charger in his garage caught on fire.
“The Tesla charger caught on fire in the garage late last night and quickly spread. We got out of the house with nothing but the clothes on our back and no shoes on our feet,” Cobb’s wife, Aiyda, posted to Instagram. “We are lucky to be alive,” she added.
According to Cobb, “We got out of the house and I was able to go back in and get our dog, Louie. We can’t thank Chief Caruthers, Captain Irvin, and the Nashville Fire Department enough for their swift action.”
“I can’t get the image of the brave firefighter getting into position out of my head; he didn’t even have water to shoot yet,” Cobb continued. “I truly thought the cars were going to explode and that we would lose him to this tragedy. He is a true hero.”
Cobb is right. EV fires are extraordinarily dangerous.
As the National Transportation Safety Board notes, “Fires in electric vehicles powered by high-voltage lithium-ion batteries pose the risk of electric shock to emergency responders from exposure to the high-voltage components of a damaged lithium-ion battery. A further risk is that damaged cells in the battery can experience uncontrolled increases in temperature and pressure (thermal runaway), which can lead to hazards such as battery reignition/fire. The risks of electric shock and battery reignition/fire arise from the "stranded" energy that remains in a damaged battery.”
In fact, EV fires are so dangerous that fire departments cannot use regular equipment to fight them.
Of course, the EV charger-sparked fire that destroyed the Cobbs’ home is far from the first this has happened. Over the past few years, similar incidents have occurred throughout the country. Sadly, scores have died from these nightmares. And, in all likelihood, more will.
Despite the documented hazards that EVs pose to the general public, climate-obsessed leftists seem to not care one iota. Even worse, they are mandating that more and more people buy EVs in the future as they issue regulations that will basically make it impossible to purchase a gasoline-powered vehicle in the not too distant future. This is not only dangerous, it is evil.
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
