The recent incident of the Chevrolet Volt catching fire after being put through its paces at the NHTSA testing facilities “sparked” up quite a few things.
Though there’s not as much media frenzy as we’ve been expecting on the situation, the American authorities seem to be putting the screws to battery power.
No decision has been made, no added legislation appeared so far but it seems like there’s not much until it will be coming around thanks to the NHTSA.
Basically, the best chance of a new law on the matter coming to life would focus on draining the contents of any lithium ion battery after a crash.
GM already recommends this action in the event of a crash so law enforcement wouldn’t really have made that much of a difference to sensible people.
The NHTSA doesn’t hold any grudge against Chevrolet or General Motors so the restriction on batteries would apply to any EV car maker around.
According to the General, a special tool for the purpose of battery drainage would be ready for any dealer around the United States sometime next year.
None of the other manufacturers playing the EV game, Nissan, Toyota or so have had anything to say about the rumored legal procedures coming up which actually makes pretty much sense.
Sure, there’s a danger factor to lithium ion batteries but it’s actually a smaller trouble than you can get into by crashing a car that has a full tank of gas in the back.
