Well, it’s certainly a different beast. Being a pickup, the chassis is higher off the ground than other teslas. The problem with other teslas was insufficient armor on the underbody, so road debris could puncture through the vehicle and damage batteries. On a pickup there’s both more room for (essentially) an armor plate and any debris would have to punch much higher up.
All and all, these kinds of battery fires should be much less likely to occur on a truck than on a sedan.
Edit: Upon actually watching that press conference from the sheriff and fire marshall, it seems clear to me from the language they’re using, that they’re treating this explosion as likely an intentional act. And I have to say, there’s a lot of damning evidence in that truck bed.
The battery pack also has a substantial amount of room between the bottom and the cells. It was so much, that at first people thought that was room for the double stack battery they had originally planned, but it turned out to not be enough space, and is just there to vent gas if cells catch on fire, and more room before a puncture during offroading can reach a cell.
Well, it’s certainly a different beast. Being a pickup, the chassis is higher off the ground than other teslas. The problem with other teslas was insufficient armor on the underbody, so road debris could puncture through the vehicle and damage batteries. On a pickup there’s both more room for (essentially) an armor plate and any debris would have to punch much higher up.
All and all, these kinds of battery fires should be much less likely to occur on a truck than on a sedan.
Edit: Upon actually watching that press conference from the sheriff and fire marshall, it seems clear to me from the language they’re using, that they’re treating this explosion as likely an intentional act. And I have to say, there’s a lot of damning evidence in that truck bed.
The battery pack also has a substantial amount of room between the bottom and the cells. It was so much, that at first people thought that was room for the double stack battery they had originally planned, but it turned out to not be enough space, and is just there to vent gas if cells catch on fire, and more room before a puncture during offroading can reach a cell.