Following a fire that broke out yesterday evening at the GM Factory Zero plant in Michigan and caused a temporary halt in production there, assembly of EVs has resumed at the site this morning as investigations begin.
The blaze was extinguished later last night with no injuries to either GM employees or firefighters, The Detroit Free Press reports, and the factory’s first shift was able to start working today at their normal time of 6 o’clock in the morning.
The Detroit Fire Department responded to the fire with a three-alarm call that summoned 18 fire trucks and 60 firefighters to the plant late on Tuesday. The report indicates the fire took place in and around a loading dock area and that lithium-ion Ultium battery units awaiting installation in EVs caught fire.
“Much” of the 4.5 million square foot facility was filled with dense, potentially toxic smoke, leading to a full evacuation of all workers. James Harris, the Detroit fire chief, remarked today that the Fire Department is “doing a thorough investigation,” adding that “with the size of the building, we want to make sure this investigation is solid, so we’re still investigating as we speak.” He also noted “some lithium ion batteries” were involved.
“Safety remains our overriding priority” at the Factory Zero facility according to Tara Kuhnen, a GM spokeswoman. She said that some departments are still closed and “will be notified by their leadership when to return,” but most “are operational again […] including vehicle assembly.”
Kuhnen also said that an earlier fire at the plant on October 25th that was put out by sprinklers was caused by “a non-battery related component.” The Detroit Fire Department reported the incident as “an autonomous electric car fire” and a “battery” fire” releasing toxic smoke from incinerated EV batteries.
Several electric vehicle nameplates are currently being produced at Factory Zero, formerly known as Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly. These include the two variants on the GMC Hummer EV, the GMC Hummer EV Pickup which started production several years ago and the GMC Hummer EV SUV that began rolling off the assembly line this year. The Chevy Silverado EV is also being produced at the facility.
The site is also preparing for production of the GMC Sierra EV and the Cadillac Escalade IQ in the medium term. Some of the 945 workers who will be laid off at the GM Lake Orion Assembly plant in January will also be given new positions at Factory Zero.
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Comments
Can’t wait until these are in everyone’s garages.
Really. Cars should run on a nonflammable power source, like gasoline 😐
Wow this fire, the InsideEVs Blazer EV breaking down, the Edmunds Blazer EV problems all in the news at the same time.
Things aren’t looking so good.
Yes, I posted a link here regarding the InsideEVs Blazer but it was reviewed and declined, which is fine, it may not have been deemed appropriate in the context of the thread. But news is news.
Blazer issue was caused by EA. EA likes to brick a lot of EVs.
They had a bunch of problems, which only ended with the car failing at a charging station. Other brands were charging just fine in the other stalls.
The Edmunds car was just sitting in a parking lot at the time.
I thought this was a conflagration.
Factory Zero? Those batteries weren’t mined, transported to the factory and shipped here with Zero emissions. I read somewhere that ann excavator uses around 6 million dollars of fuel each year. Now factor in the fuel for the trucks to haul the raw material and the ships to bring the batteries to the states. This “Zero emissions EV’s” is such a joke.
Just like oil is mined, transported, refined, transported, stored and then burned with a 40% efficiency.
No one is saying that ICE vehicles have Zero Emissions. Nice try though.
My only point was EVs still have less emissions than ICE vehicles and as more renewables come online they get cleaner.
There have been a few studies on this, and it looks like you’d have to drive an EV for almost the life of it to make up for all the emissions used to produce it in the first place, compared to just driving an ICE vehicle.
Of course, there are so many ways of looking at this. Especially when you consider where the electricity is coming from.
Probably a really good hybrid would be the best bet.
Technically an EV is a zero emission vehicle. All emissions are external. Hybrids remain the most enviro friendly approach to personal transportation
No….”walking” is..
Actually, propulsion is closer to 25%. Waste heat is about 60%
I wonder how much damage the “toxic smoke” caused to the vehicles paint?
At least with ICE vehicles the combustion is internal!
They should have just let it burn itself out. Save the water.