--- title: "The Tesla Semi Fire Closed a Freeway for 15 Hours and Took 50,000 Gallons of Water to Put Out" description: "Tens of thousands of gallons of water were used to put out the Tesla Semi after its battery ignited and caught fire in a crash last month." date: "2024-09-14" modified: "2024-09-14" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-semi-fire-worse" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "electric vehicles" - "tesla" - "tesla semi" - "the digest" --- # The Tesla Semi Fire Closed a Freeway for 15 Hours and Took 50,000 Gallons of Water to Put Out ![Tens of thousands of gallons of water were used to put out the Tesla Semi after its battery ignited and caught fire in a crash last month.]() *Tesla Chairman and CEO Elon Musk unveils the new "Semi" electric Truck to buyers and journalists on November 16, 2017 in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles. / AFP PHOTO / Veronique DUPONT (Photo credit should read VERONIQUE DUPONT/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: VERONIQUE DUPONT/AFP via Getty Images\* ## Semi Sautéed An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board reveals that [the fire that devoured a Tesla Semi]() after it crashed last month turned out to be way worse than we first thought. *The Associated Press* [reports that]() California firefighters had to use a staggering 50,000 gallons of water to put out the flaming battery at the heart of the wreckage, which burned at temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. For reference, your average, big-duty fire truck in the US — an Engine 1, in official firefighting terminology — typically carries 500 gallons of water. The whole 50,000 gallons used here is the amount that the average American family of four would consume in about five months, based on [Environmental Protection Agency estimates](). The ferocity of the blaze illustrates the novel challenges involved in combating lithium-ion battery fires when electric vehicles combust — and as such, the profound obstacles to a sustainable EV trucking infrastructure. ## Money to Burn According to the NTSB investigation, the crash took place on August 19 at around 3 am, when the [Tesla Semi](), driven by an employee of the automaker, veered off the freeway while rounding a curve. Then it plowed through a tree, barreled down a slope, before finally coming to a stop against more trees at the bottom. Luckily, the driver made it out unharmed. But soon after, the Tesla Semi's battery ignited, resulting in the fire that required emergency responders to close the freeway for 15 hours as they endeavored to put it out. Along with the 50,000 gallons of water that was sprayed on the burning wreckage, firefighters also had to dump fire retardant on the scene from an aircraft. Needless to say, it sounds like this was an incredibly expensive fire to put out, especially for one that originated from a single vehicle. What caused the battery to ignite, however, remains undetermined as the investigation continues. ## Fire Hazard Teslas and other EVs have repeatedly made headlines [for bursting into flames](). There's [no hard evidence]() that their lithium ion batteries result in fires any more than conventional cars do, but on the other hand, there's also no denying that when they do combust, their fires are far more formidable. Firefighters responding to such incidents in the past have said that Tesla and other EV fires [require forty times the amount of water]() that regular cars do — and that's just with passenger cars. This incident shows the kind of inferno unleashed by the behemoth of a battery powering a full-blown Tesla Semi, which [reportedly]() weighs around 11,000 pounds. As [*Jalopnik* notes](), US firefighters still don't have a standardized method for combating EV fires. More or less, all emergency responders can do is spray water and wait for the fire to burn itself out — which can take hours, because the batteries continue to release oxygen as they burn. **More on Tesla:** *[Workers Training Tesla’s Autopilot Say They Were Told to Ignore Road Signs to Avoid Making Cars Drive Like a "Robot"]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()