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Ocean shipping company Matson has refused to transport any more EVs on its ships after the Morning Midas disaster. The company seems to believe the risks of an EV fire on one of its vessels isn’t worth whatever financial benefits would come from transporting the vehicles.
Driver involved in a crash was steering with a pair of vice grips.
One can hardly blame Matson, which is based in Hawaii, considering what happened to the Morning Midas in June. The ship, which was loaded with cars, caught fire not too far off the coast of Alaska.
While the source of the initial blaze hasn’t been revealed, once it reached the section where EVs were sitting, the fire raged out of control. After trying to fight back the inferno, in desperation the crew had to abandon ship.
Even once the Coast Guard arrived, the blaze was so out of control it just burned for almost a month until the hull was so damaged the Morning Midas sunk into the ocean.
The Morning Midas isn’t the only ship that’s been lost at sea thanks to electric cars burning for weeks uncontrolled in the cargo hold.
A report from The Maritime Executive says Matson refuses to transport any all-electric or even plug-in hybrid vehicles on its vessels starting immediately and it’s thanks to the lithium-ion batteries.
The move shocked many customers since in the past Matson had embraced EVs, even developing a team to work through the challenges of transporting vehicles with large lithium-ion batteries. In other words, something changed the company’s mind and it moved to mitigate a perceived risk rapidly.
However, in a letter to customers explaining why it no longer accepts EVs or PHEVs for transport, the company said, “Matson continues to support industry efforts to develop comprehensive standards and procedures to address fire risk posed by lithium-ion batteries at sea and plans to resume acceptance of them when appropriate safety solutions that meet our requirements can be implemented.”
We wonder how long that will take?
Image via 5th_pass, RAFAELCORTES1/X
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