Drivers of electric vehicles are being warned of potential fire hazards as reports surface of cars blowing up due to flooding during Hurricane Helene.
Motorists are being urged to either move their cars or report them to authorities if it's not safe to do so.
"If you have an electric vehicle or golf cart and it was exposed to salt water, it needs to be moved away from your home by at least 50 feet. These vehicles may catch fire in the coming days," officials in Pinellas County -- which covers cities on the west central coast including St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Dunedin -- told residents.
Most modern EVs use lithium-ion batteries but lithium is highly reactive with water. Saltwater can trigger a spontaneous combustion by causing the batteries to short circuit.
The warning applies to full-size EVs as well as smaller vehicles -- including electric bikes and scooters -- if they rely on battery power.
Footage broadcast by local news stations shows fires erupting in aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which brought a storm surge of 5-16 feet and caused catastrophic flooding.
Andrew Ellinor told WTVT he heard an explosion while hunkering down on Davis Islands and saw a car in flames.
"You heard horns honking in the distance. The cars were shorting out," he said.
In Tampa, an electric vehicle is being blamed for sparking a fire that completely destroyed a home.
Officials in Pinellas County also shared a video of an electric car that was parked inside a garage when it caught fire. While it's not clear if the vehicle was exposed to saltwater, officials warned that residents returning to their homes should move EVs 50 feet away from structures or anything combustible and have the vehicle towed to a dealership for inspection.
The threat of EVs catching fire exists even after floodwaters have receded. The fires can last for prolonged periods and can reignite in an instant, taking six hours or more to extinguish in some cases.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly 3,000 to 5,000 EVs were impacted by Hurricane Ian in 2022. About 600 EVs were a total loss while 36 caught fire. In several instances, the fire erupted while the vehicles were being towed on a flatbed trailer, the NHTSA said.
Hurricane Idalia in 2023 also caused several EVs to catch fire, although the numbers were lower than during Hurricane Ian -- not only because Idalia was a relatively weaker hurricane but because of raised public awareness around the issue, according to the NHTSA.