"Steve Calanog, the incident commander for the Environmental Protection Agency handling the Palisades and Eaton fire cleanups, said in comments to KNBC-TV that the project will be “from our estimation, probably the largest lithium-ion battery pickup, cleanup, that’s ever happened in the history of the world.”
There were countless plug-in hybrid cars and electric vehicles in the area destroyed by the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires.
The batteries can explode when they face damage or extreme heat.
Even worse, residual heat can cause an explosion days, weeks, or months after the initial disruption.
The cars may show no visible sign of damage, presenting danger to residents and contractors returning to destroyed properties to start the cleanups.
EV Magazine said that added dangers include the leakage of hazardous materials into the environment and the difficulty of identifying partially combusted batteries among other debris.
There also exists limited recycling infrastructure to handle the electric vehicle batteries, especially after a massive influx of needed capacity, and the fact that specific protocols are needed to even handle and dispose of the batteries in the first place.
In short, a novel technology is producing a novel challenge to Californians, marking one of just many drawbacks of the electric vehicles which the state government heavily incentivized."
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