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Its easy to hydro-lock a car with a combustion engine,just let the air intake become submerged.
Now how do you hydro-electro-lock an EV,will the ev motor stop wirring as soon as it submerges,ive seen windscreen wipers still working on cars stuck in water and headlights.
Whats the water depth limit for an EV.
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If this news story is anything to go by, not a lot.
A couple in Scotland were given a £17,374 (roughly $21,220) estimate to swap out their Tesla’s battery last week after rain somehow damaged the vehicle’s internals. According to Tesla, the couple isn’t totally responsible for the ruined battery, but neither is Tesla itself. As a result, the pair will have to fork up the cash to replace it.
Tom…
Most EVs will handle water up to quite a height. There have been instances of cars in a flood that do function after being submerged once dried out. Nissan actually drove an early production leaf through water up to the window level. It was fine. There are also instances of Teslas actually floating with the electrics still working. These can all be seen on YouTube.
Hundreds of people have died, thousands of people have had their lives turned upside down due to the flooding and you ask the question, under the banner “Floods in Espana”, about how much depth of water can an EV handle?
Crass
Well, you only get hydro-lock on an ICE car, it coudnt happen with an EV.
Hydro-lock occurs when water enters the air intake and flows into the cylinder, the engine rotation tries to compress the water (water does not compress very well), locking the engine and destroying some components.
As for water getting into an EV battery, this rarely happens unless the battery is compromised by damage or indeed submersion.
Driving a car through just a foot of moving water, is enough to move it off course.
Battery enclosures will have a IP rating r expressed as ISO or DIN number but, non of the relevant tests include standing in water for prolonged times.
As @Ioniq you can’t hydro-lock something that isn’t mechanical.
I have driven my Soul EV through deepish water after having to go collect my wife from her work as the buses were stopped due to flooding. The water was as deep as anything I have driven through on the way to her work, but it had risen substantially by the time we returned. There were 3 ICE cars stranded in the water, a Mercedes coupe, a VW Polo and a Quashqai, the Merc was getting a tow cable attached to a Hilux to be pulled out (the water was well over the sill of the open drivers door on the Merc).
This was the least flooded of the 4 roads into town, all of which were officially “closed”, one impassable as the bridge was out, two others suffering over a metre of fast water. Having an old dog at home alone, we either parked up and walked through it or gave it a go.
So, we drove through, past the stranded cars and out, all simple, no fuss at all, wake at the front was just cresting over the bonnet, so the electrics were certainly “submerged”. The rear did move sideways at one point, I think it had started to float a bit. I wouldn’t make a habit of it, but it did cope very well, no warning lights, no water ingress and no issues afterwards.
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