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The burning of Volkswagen electric vehicle batteries complicates efforts to fight the fire of the ship Felicity Ace, adrift in the Atlantic Ocean
As last photos published by Felicity Ace's Portuguese Navy show the cargo ship still burning near the Azores Islands, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, after a fire on the main deck that could not be brought under control for almost five days, with almost 4.000 cars on board, from various Volkswagen Group brands, including 1.100 Porsche models, 189 Bentley units, and an undetermined number of Audi cars and even Lamborghini, from the Volkswagen Group.
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Your crew is safe, but the ship is still adrift near the Azores. The lithium-ion batteries in Volkswagen electric cars are making it impossible to put out the fire.
Watch below the video of the rescue of the crew aboard the Felicity Ace ship in flames
The Dutch company contracted to rescue the ship, SMIT Salvage, guarantees the Wall Street Journal that the presence of a large number of batteries is making the tasks difficult, as the fire spreads quickly and cannot be extinguished with water alone.
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Pouring water on decomposing lithium may further the ship's fire.
Pouring water on decomposing lithium may favor more violent combustion, favoring oxidation. In addition, there is a danger that the product that makes up the batteries leaks, contaminating the water.
"The cars are electric, and part of the fire is the batteries that are still on," a company spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.
The fire on the 60.000-tonne ship is still burning, although “diminished in intensity”, says João Manuel Mendes Cabeças, captain of the port closest to Faial Island, in the Azores.
If the fire is extinguished and the ship remains fit for locomotion, it may be towed to the Bahamas or a port in Europe to assess the damage caused by the flames. But as long as the Volkswagen Group's electric cars, whose batteries are on fire, cannot be isolated, the flames will continue to spread on the vessel.
It is not known whether the ship's cargo, consisting of 3.965 Porsche, Bentley, Audi, Lamborghini and Volkswagen and Volkswagen vehicles, was affected by the fire.
It is currently unknown whether the ship's cargo, consisting of 3.965 vehicles from various Volkswagen Group brands, was affected by the fire.
Spokespersons for the Volkswagen Group brands, meanwhile, have avoided providing details about the models on board, but the fact that most are equipped with batteries could mean there are plenty of Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron and Volkwagen I.3 and ID .4 on board (among others).
The Panamanian-flagged Felicity Ace, chartered by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., traveled from the German port of Emden, where Volkswagen has a factory, to the American port of Davisville, south of Boston. The ship, which departed Emden on Feb. 10, was scheduled to arrive in port in Davisville, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, but is currently still adrift about 90 miles southwest of Island. Faial (Azores).
