Latest Links of general interest (newspapers, articles, research....)

[AlephZero]

(Image removed from quote.)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-shackles-rat-tiny-stocks-10304460

" The resident of Taichung City in West Taiwan wrote: "I finally caught it!"
Lee said he released the rat later the same day. "

Of course he did!

 

[dks]

I was thinking of that too...

[dks]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gangsters-turn-city-war-zone-10310786

[dks]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4452070/Scary-photos-helmets-accidents.html

Helmets after an accident

[dks]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gallery/spectre-soviet-spaceships-shuttles-left-10356843

Old Soviet space program spaceships 

[dks]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4475234/Oh-Philip-Did-really-say-that.html

Prince Philip quotes

[Etherealicer]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gallery/spectre-soviet-spaceships-shuttles-left-10356843

Old Soviet space program spaceships 

(Image removed from quote.)

Both beautiful and sad... great pictures though

[Kev D]

Deadpool heading to TV - animated series

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4494000/Donald-Glover-Deadpool-animated-series-FXX.html

Hopefully its a good one

[dks]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sologamy

sologamy,

[dks]

proof that electric cars are dangerous 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4601286/Richard-Hammond-ll-soon-car-crash.html
I'll be back in action soon, says Richard Hammond after £2million electric supercar fireball

[Don Pablo]

proof that electric cars are dangerous 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4601286/Richard-Hammond-ll-soon-car-crash.html
I'll be back in action soon, says Richard Hammond after £2million electric supercar fireball

So the car crashed, and ended up on its roof badly damaged, THEN went on fire, as I understand?
Same sequence of events happens to petrol cars all the time.   

Thank goodness Hammond is okay, fast cars are dangerous. 

[dks]

Actually it is very rare for a petrol car or diesel car to catch fire following a crash, unless it is in a film. For an electric car the risk seems statstcally greater, based on the number in use and the number of fires.

Many people are left to die in crashed cars because the public thinks that they will explode, like in films.

[Don Pablo]

Actually it is very rare for a petrol car or diesel car to catch fire following a crash, unless it is in a film. For an electric car the risk seems statstcally greater, based on the number in use and the number of fires.

Many people are left to die in crashed cars because the public thinks that they will explode, like in films.

Thanks for saying that, you made me do research for ages.   

I look around to find out the number of crash related fires per Billion miles, for Teslas, and Internal Combustion Engine Cars(henceforth called ICE Cars).


I counted 8 Crash related Tesla Model S fires. 2 of these happened in 2013 and were due to road debris piercing the battery. Tesla has fitted old and new Model S's with a Titanium plate on the underbody to prevent this happening again, so I consider those incidents obsolete. Nevertheless, I will count them.

As of now, Tesla Model S's have driven approx 4.25 Billion Miles, world wide.
Do the mathematics, and I get 531 Million miles driven per Tesla fire. Flip it around, and there are approx 2 Tesla Model S fires per Billion Miles.


What about ICE Cars?
I found a U.S Government chart listing Car Fires per Billion Miles, by year. Its only up to 2007, but I can extrapolate.
Being generous, there are 20 ICE Car Fires per Billion Miles in 2016. Thats 10 times more fires than Tesla Model S's get per Billion miles. 




Boring stuff, the assumptions I made, and references.

Show content

4.25 Billion Miles driven by Teslas? I got that figure extrapolating from the fact that Teslas mileage broke through the 4 Billion Mile barrier last March, up from 3 Billion miles last late November, and 3.5 Billion mid-December... A very rapid increase, kinda exponential, and I feel comfortable saying that Teslas have gained another 0.25 Billion Miles in mileage in the 3 months since March. Its probably an underestimate actually!

8 Crash related fires? I just counted all the crash related fires I could find on the net. Even if its 9 or 10, not much difference.

ICE Car Fires per Billion miles?
http://www.nfpa.org/news-and-research/fire-statistics-and-reports/fire-statistics/vehicle-fires/vehicle-fire-trends-and-patterns
Page 16 of the relevant PDF has a chart. It only goes up to 2007, but the slope is pretty consistant. I reckon the actual number for 2016 is 30, not 20. So I am being conservative....

Basically, unless I made a mistake(in which case, please point it out), ICE Cars go up in flames 10 times more often than Teslas in a crash, and usually quicker.
On the flip side, Battery fires are harder to put out.

Also, for both types of car, the risk is minuscule and staying away from a wreck with people in it from fear that it will catch fire is stupid, as you said.

Trivia: More than 100 people died in GM car fires caused by a faulty ignition before GM recalled the affected model. 

[dks]

if you are sticking to just one brand of electric cars, the top one, then how can you compare it with all regular cars?

You  need to compare tesla fires with e.g rolls royce fires

[Don Pablo]

if you are sticking to just one brand of electric cars, the top one, then how can you compare it with all regular cars?

You  need to compare tesla fires with e.g rolls royce fires

Good point. I looked up the top 8 electric car makers by sales, from an article in early 2016.
I added up, and came up with 740,000 electric cars sold all time, of which 80,000 Tesla, and 241,000 Nissan leaf and Renault ZOE combined, etc.
I looked up fire occurrences for each model besides the tesla(already done).
I found about 5 or so, so lets make it 20 in total?  Including tesla. 
I found no miles driven stats, but 20 fires for three quarters of a million electric cars, most of which cost approx 30k $,  sounds way below the ICE figures. 

[dks]

OK, I am buying a g-wiz 

[Don Pablo]

OK, I am buying a g-wiz 

I'd like an electric Peel P50. 
Or that Swedish "PodRide" thing. The demo video is soo cool. 

[Syncop8r]

Millions of American adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows 

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/93751021/millions-of-american-adults-think-chocolate-milk-comes-from-brown-cows

[dks]

[Syncop8r]

What about strawberry milk then? 

[Ron Who]

What about strawberry milk then? 

Beats me. I do know about milkshakes, however:

[zoidberg]

 

[magentus]

MJ Eberhart - legendary hiiker:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/hiking-walking-nimblewill-nomad-mj-eberhart#img-4

[Ron Who]

MJ Eberhart - legendary hiiker:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/hiking-walking-nimblewill-nomad-mj-eberhart#img-4

That's a good read and i like that man!

[magentus]

MJ Eberhart - legendary hiiker:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/hiking-walking-nimblewill-nomad-mj-eberhart#img-4

That's a good read and i like that man!

NIce life just walking all day. Not sure I'd go as far as him with the toenails though. 

[dks]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/04/why-roman-concrete-still-stands-strong-while-modern-version-decays

Why Roman concrete still stands strong

[Syncop8r]

Check out this Facebook page if you want to see some cool 360° night sky photography: https://www.facebook.com/SouthofHome/

[pfrsantos]

Check out this Facebook page if you want to see some cool 360° night sky photography: https://www.facebook.com/SouthofHome/

Huh... just in case I don't, which Facebook page should I check out, then?...

 

[Syncop8r]

Check out this Facebook page if you want to see some cool 360° night sky photography: https://www.facebook.com/SouthofHome/

Huh... just in case I don't, which Facebook page should I check out, then?...

 

Any other one but that one. 

[pfrsantos]

Check out this Facebook page if you want to see some cool 360° night sky photography: https://www.facebook.com/SouthofHome/

Huh... just in case I don't, which Facebook page should I check out, then?...

 

Any other one but that one. 

Thanks, will do!