An electric bin lorry burst into flames this morning, forcing multiple London roads to close. The Telegraph has the story.
Specialist crews were deployed to the fire after the £580,000 electric lorry caught alight in the morning.
The lithium battery-powered trucks were recently launched under Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, as part of a green initiative to reduce carbon emissions in the capital.
Oxford Street and Duke Street were closed following the incident as firefighting operations and investigations continued.
Photographs show smoke rising from the stationary lorry, with rubbish and other shrapnel surrounding the vehicle. Firefighters are seen trying to put out the flames.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) sent three teams from Paddington and a specialist Fire Rescue Unit (FRU) to the incident to deal with the risks posed by the electric vehicle such as potential reignition and toxic fumes. … All occupants of the truck escaped without injury. …
It comes as the number of e-bike battery fires has risen by 70% in a year across the country. In 2022, there were 158 fires linked to electric bikes – a number that had risen to 270 in 2023.
The U.K.’s 49 fire and rescue services attended 46% more fires linked to lithium-ion batteries for all devices and appliances in 2023 than 2022, according to research collated through Freedom of Information requests by insurer QBE.
Worth reading in full.
Update: A spokesman for Westminster City Council has said the fire occurred in the collected waste and not the battery:
We can confirm that a waste fire took place early that ignited in the body of one of our electric Refuse Collection Vehicles (eRCVs). This was completely unrelated to the battery in the chassis of the eRCV and was most likely caused by a flammable item amongst the collected waste materials. Thankfully, nobody was injured but we strongly ask residents and businesses to correctly dispose of their waste to prevent something like this happening again.
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Oh dear how sad never mind.
“launched under Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, as part of a green initiative to reduce carbon emissions in the capital.”
Lithium manganse aluminium and cobalt oxides are toxic plus whatever else burnt up into London’s air.
How many third world children does it take to mine one of Sadiq’s london bin lorries I wonder?
How long until people start dying? A battery bin lorry is absurd. Any emission saving has just been totalled in one fell swoop with toxic fumes which can kill people.
…and at TWICE the price of a normal lorry, not forgetting of course the depot’s charging infrastructure cost and the electricity bill that’s no doubt considerably higher than the diesel bill was. What a criminal waste of taxpayers money!!!
I can’t get excited about electric vehicles, sorry not sorry. Therefore off-topic incoming…
Tommy Robinson’s been sentenced to 18 months in prison;
https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1850878851691221282
A thread here if anyone’s on Twitter. His defense is requesting a category B prison due to him being a target for some prisoners and so he doesn’t have to be kept in solitary confinement like previously;
”Judge said he will reduce the sentence by three days due to the time already served in custody.
Taking everything in consideration, appropriate punishment will spend in custody of 18 months, but with
Removal of Silenced from all social media accounts. Pay the cost of applications and on good behavior can be out in 9 months.”
https://x.com/VoWalesOfficial/status/1850875917800771613
Bastards
For those interested, this is a statement he had prepared ahead of sentencing, which he wanted to read out in court but he wasn’t allowed to. His team now in charge of his Twitter account are asking people to share it;
”Your honour, I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press. My duty as a journalist is to uncover the truth and I have worked for years to shine light on challenges in society that no one else is willing to speak about.
Have you watched the documentary Your Honour?
If you have watched the film ‘Silenced’ Your Honour you will have seen that I didn’t make accusations and I didn’t make assumptions in the film. I simply repeated what I was told by the Head Teacher of the school and others and what was written in black and white in school documents. I let the witnesses give their testimonies and made it clear that Jamal, in his right to reply, denies all of their accusations against him. I explain Justice Nicklin’s verdict and I explain that I lost the case.
There was nothing else I could have included because Jamal didn’t bring any evidence to court and he didn’t bring anyone to court to speak for him apart from his father, Jihad. No teachers. No social workers. No friends.
It is for this,… REPORTING… for this that I am facing these charges, for this I am facing the prospect of time in a maximum security prison with the risks to my life that presents.
Justice Nicklin’s verdict in this case is extraordinary and while the case caused my divorce and bankruptcy, far more important is the impact his verdict has had on those courageous children who came to court to testify in my defence.
Justice Nicklin effectively discarded their testimonies. He said he didn’t know why they were lying but called them liars nevertheless.
Charlie, a grade A student, didn’t even like me or support me but was courageous enough to come to court to testify. She had a breakdown, she had to be sectioned. Justice Nicklin caused that.
Bailey Maclaren had tried to commit suicide. Thankfully he has started to rebuild his life. He has to overcome the lie that he is racist.
Many others have been affected.
The collateral damage of this scandalous verdict was too great for the public not to know the truth.
Some people still believe the legacy media is there to report what is happening, the truth, rather than push strongly biased accounts driven by ideology or political agendas.
Well, in this case, the press only attended court on the day Jamal and his father gave their accounts. They then left court and didn’t bother to return to hear the testimony of the children who were witnesses for the defence.
The whole balanced picture could not be reported by the legacy media because they weren’t there; they weren’t interested in what the children testifying for the defence had to say.
And then Justice Nicklin tried to prevent the whole picture being given to the public by issuing his injunction, banning the film. Justice Nicklin has banned me from presenting the same evidence that was presented in court.
If it is such a clear-cut case, why is it necessary to hide the facts from the public. If they watched the testimonies of the witnesses, they would surely come to the same conclusion as Justice Nicklin.
What’s the agenda here?
Well the injunction was apparently to protect Jamal’s reputation. Yet it’s not the reputation of Jamal that has been damaged by this legal circus.
I don’t wish any ill for Jamal. I personally think he was a victim of his own predatory lawyers and those who blasted this story around the world for their own purposes.
It’s very telling that Jamal hasn’t asked for me to be prosecuted in this case. Neither have his lawyers. The case has been brought by the Attorney General, by the Government.
In my view there are similarities with the Post OMice case. Powerful interests hiding the truth for their own purposes regardless of the terrible consequences for those innocent children I have mentioned, and others.
I could have shown the film ‘Silenced’ at any point in the preceding three years. I didn’t.
However, I did make the decision to play this film in Trafalgar Square on the 27th July this year. and I am grateful to @elonmusk
and X for allowing the film to remain available; for standing for freedom of speech and a free press.
So if you’re asking me whether I plead guilty or not guilty, yes, I’m guilty of showing the film in Trafalgar Square on 27th July. And I am guilty of JOURNALISM.
And, although not for you Your Honour, nor for your court nor for the entire justice system, I do have contempt for Justice Nicklin’s ruling and the actions that attempt to hide the truth from the public.
Justice Nicklin fell out with his own father before the case, arguing about me. He should have recused himself before the case even began.
The world is watching. I stand for the truth, for freedom of speech and freedom of the press and if that puts me on the wrong side of Justice Nicklin’s injunction, then so be it.
If I have to sit in jail for speaking the truth; Well I am just one of many people now that this government is imprisoning for things they say; political prisoners.
This government is releasing violent offenders early to make space for people who tweet things they disagree with.
Peter Lynch is the first to have paid the ultimate price. A sixty-one year-old father, and grandfather, non-violent but imprisoned for his views and his speech.
If I have to sit in jail for refusing to be silenced for reporting information that was brought to me for journalism…
Then I am prepared for that.
Thank you”
https://x.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1850896181699780609
A brave man. He shames the whole bunch polishing their arses in Westminster.
God Bless Tommy Robinson.
Not allowed to speak in your own defence? Sounds nothing like any society I would stand up for.
Commit a rape, murder, bit of Kiddy Porn, sell some drugs, no problem nice suspended sentences or home early after a few months. Say something against Governments support of mass immigration to displace the native people then off to chokey with you, and hopefully thats the last that will ever be heard of you.
”One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” MLK, and that’s exactly what Tommy did by refusing to be silenced and then sharing ‘Silenced’. Balls of steel and integrity to the max.
Well put Mogs.
You forgot: physically beat up a few police officers at Manchester Airport and don’t even get charged!
I wonder how they intend to wipe the content of “Silenced” from the minds of everyone who has watched it.
Just so I’m prepared …..
No reason some inspired person in another country cannot post the film separately on X.
Does not break UK laws.
Dead easy in this day and age to copy the video and repost it.
A few thousand copies out there would do the job nicely.
And then Tommy Robinson can take it down if he wants.
LOL safe and effective
Clearly good for Gaia
Saving her one EV fire at a time….
No doubt there will be an examination of the cause, which may have been from some of the junk being collected, or a fault on the truck itself. There are occasional fire outbreaks on diesel engined rubbish collection trucks, on account of things being disposed of that way.
There are, the problem with this battery EV fire is the difficulty of putting it out. It may be more toxic than a normal vehicle fire too.
Saves landfill space.
Were Milliband or Khan available for comment?
£580,000 for an EV bin lorry?!
That’s loopy money!
How much does an ICE one cost?
The EV buses cost £380 k.
Around £210k for a Euro 6 Dennis Elite with bin lift, etc. (which is a bigger wagon than that shown here).
And it can work all day and night if needed, with a 10 minute refuel…
I had no idea they cost that much but I suppose I should’ve guessed given that they are part of the biggest scam in history. It’s disgraceful people have to drive these things knowing they are sitting on top of a giant explosive battery with stability issues wondering if you are next. You could say that a petrol tank is potentially explosive although less dangerous generally I would say because they require a source of ignition. These electir vehiclesare supposed to be the acme of safety, reliability, durability, sustainability, rationality etc and yet they are the opposite of all of these things.
A hydrocarbon fire needs a source of ignition and a second component – the oxygen in the air – to burn. Smother it and it stops burning.
An EV battery continues to emit its energy even if you smother it. It has everything it needs to continue to release its energy in its own chemical mixture.
Looking at the film and pictures I don’t think it was the traction battery that caught fire, looks more like the contents of the hopper, that said, unlike a diesel truck if that fire gets to the traction battery it’ll be 10 times worse than an ice vehicle
Agreed. With the amount of lithium cells being discarded in the rubbish these days, especially with disposable items like vapes etc, it’s not a surprise more rubbish fires are happening. Doesn’t seem to have impacted landfill sites yet, but a matter of time I guess
On the plus side, if you are ever in a survival situation you can use a lithium battery to start a fire which is very difficult to put out. Open your phone up, expose and cut the battery and pour water on it and Bob’s your uncle. Better than messing around with flint.
https://image.vuukle.com/0f873643-df17-4416-9b51-a658c0078752-e31d456a-1d61-4f5a-8eb1-2d54f1587440
Fire Brigades attending more EV fires.
Have you seen this? Prof. PAUL CHRISTENSEN Electric Vehicle Battery Fires SUBSCRIBE NOW – YouTube The authorities need to wake up and ban these batteries. Goodness knows what is supposed to happen to them all when they reach the end of their product life.
Oh dear. That will have seriously damaged the air quality in London. Better ban them PDQ.
EV’s are the Betamax of the automotive industry.
Are we sure this wasn’t just the collected rubbish that went up in flames? I would have expected considerably more fire damage to the lower part of the lorry itself if the lorry’s own battery had ignited.
You’re probably right about the source of the fire. Regardless of that the bin lorry will need extensive repairs and despite initially costing double (or more) than the diesel equivalent (actually the diesel is larger, better) I’ll bet the repairs will cost a fortune or the lorry will be scrapped. Who will want to be assigned as crew to a truck with a potentially damaged battery?