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Lucid Had Two Battery Fire Episodes in Four Months at Its Casa Grande Factories

Our Next Energy (ONE) already said that it does not believe nickel and cobalt should go together. Although it was the only option at the earliest stage of lithium-ion cells, ONE's argument is that it offers a high risk of thermal runaways. Two fire episodes at Lucid’s plants in Casa Grande, Arizona, show that this concern is far from being paranoid.
There were two fires at Lucid factories in Arizona in the last four months 26 photos
Photo: Lucid
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According to Business Insider, the first fire happened on March 14 at 10:30 PM local time at the company’s powertrain factory, called Lucid Powertrain Manufacturing 1 (LPM-1). While the firefighters were on their way, the call was upgraded to a “hazardous situation,” but they found the battery pack immersed in a water tank. One person got burns and was taken to the hospital with injuries and a headache from inhaling toxic fumes.

More and more fire departments are adopting this strategy with water tanks to cool down the battery packs and also prevent them from reigniting. On most occasions, entire electric cars are inserted into these water tanks.

The second and more recent fire in a Lucid plant happened on June 19, curiously at around the same time as the first one: 10 PM. We are not sure if it happened at LPM-1 or the Advanced Manufacturing Plant 1 (AMP-1).

In this case, the firefighters also arrived at the scene to find a submerged battery pack, even if only partially. The situation was described as an “active car battery fire,” which could also include a 12V battery if you think about the vague description.

Both blazes demanded Lucid to close whatever factory witnessed these episodes. The second one directly affected five employees, one of which had to be taken to the local medical center. The other four were treated for inhaling smoke.

We have contacted Lucid to ask about what happened and will update this article as soon as we hear back from the company. We want to know if these fires erupted from production battery packs and if there is any risk that the cause may also affect vehicles already on the road. If that is not the case, learning what made these batteries burn becomes crucial to really rule that out.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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