this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2024
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There are two totally different battery systems in electric vehicles.
The car drives using the high voltage system. The normal car functions like infotainment, door locks, windows, power ports, etc. all operate on a standard 12V system just like any ICE vehicle. The high voltage system recharges the 12V system just like an alternator in an ICE vehicle.
There are mechanical overrides inside the vehicle to force unlock and open the door if you're locked inside with no power for some reason.
The situation listed in the article can only happen if the driver ignored the warning that their 12V battery needed to be replaced, and let it die while also leaving their child in the vehicle unattended. They also apparently didn't attempt to jump the 12V battery like you would in any other situation.
I don't blame the driver for anything more than being a fucking idiot leaving their child in the car unattended. Yes they should know basic safety things about their vehicle, but I can excuse that in a stressful situation like this.
The firefighters on the other hand, should know that these vehicles all still have a regular 12V system they can access to jump a dead battery to open doors that aren't unlocking. This shows a distinct lack of education about electric vehicles, something that all fire departments should have by now with tens of millions of them on the road.
Teslas aren't the first cars that need a working battery to operate the door locks, they're probably just the most common now as they sell millions of them every quarter.
I'll concede that my example was bad because of the manual overrides, that's true. Someone with more info about how those cars work can probably come up with a better one.
That said, the firefighters should not know about the battery jumping tricks. This should not be a thing, because it's absolutely ridiculous. And the idea that they should be trained to learn about something so futile because some smartasses decided they wanted to "disrupt the personal transportation space" is frankly revolting. Sorry nerds, you are not that special that the world should stop its course and start revolving around you.
And yes, as others have said, other brands are just as braindead if they do the same thing the shitty Teslas do.
Sorry that I expect first responders to actually learn new things as technology moves forwards, especially when there are millions of vehicles on the road.
Tesla is not the only manufacturer where this would be a thing. Any vehicle with electronic actuated handles/doors would be affected. With a quick search I found the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Range Rover Velar all look likely to have this same issue if locked outside with a dead 12V battery since they all use electronically-activated doors or handles to open the vehicle from outside.
Just like firefighters now learn how to fight lithium battery vehicle fires, and where the high voltage disconnects are for safety. Unlike those disconnects, which would be in different places for every vehicle model, the fact that a simple 12V jump like a normal car would let you open basically any vehicle with electronic doors or handles seems like a pretty small thing to learn.
Nothing stopped the person from calling road service to wire the car up, save for the fact that a child was involved.
But there was. And ensuring the kid is safe takes top priority, and the last thing anyone wants to hear is another case of emergency responders dragging their feet while another kid dies. Smash your way safely into that car, THAT is what they are trained to do.
Firefighters deal with a lot of shit and receive lots of training. I would argue that most firefighters know about the issues being laid out, and policy, not lack of knowledge, dictates a process to be carried out. I really don't think this is a situation they should be vilified over if it saves lives.
Edit: If it wasn't clear, nobody is complaining about getting off work and finding out their car is dead, and having to call the fire department to show up with the jaws of life.