An Amazon fulfilment centre in Houston, Texas became a literal hotbed of activity on Monday. Multiple Rivian delivery vans caught fire on site, with the electric vehicles burning furiously in the open parking lot.
The incident was captured in great detail by
Third Coast Drone from the air. The footage shows a thick black smoke plume arising from the parking lot of the Amazon facility. A great number of Rivian’s custom Amazon vans were parked in the lot, as part of Amazon’s last-mile delivery fleet.
The vans burned with a severe intensity, as is common in EV fires. Flames, hot gases, and sparks were thrown high into the air, even as fire crews were in the process of fighting the blaze.
At least three vans were badly affected by the fire. Two burned down to the ground, leaving little more than a bare metal skeleton remaining once the flames were put out.
As we’ve seen in prior EV fires, crews struggled to extinguish the blaze. This is typical when EV batteries catch alight. The batteries tend to undergo a thermal runaway process. This is where the chemicals inside the battery degrade in an exothermic reaction that releases yet more heat, sustaining the process.
It’s incredibly difficult to cool an EV battery enough to halt this process. Extinguishing an EV fire typically requires great quantities of water. Indeed, sometimes EV batteries can even keep burning
when fully submerged.
It’s unclear how or why the vans caught fire. It’s possible that just one vehicle may have initially caught alight, with the fire spreading to neighbouring vans in turn.
One commenter on the YouTube video claims to have been in the area, offering their insight into the matter. “I was nearby and can confirm that it was the chargers that caught fire and spread to the vans,” said CloudCaptain-zj7nn. “This was not a battery fire. Amazon needs to provide shade to protect chargers from the Texas heat.”
