Cars caught in floods

[LONDONER]

The last few days we have had extremely heavy downpours in the UK and there have been picures on TV and in newspapers of cars partialmenty submerged.  These are petrol and diesel engined automobiles that presumeably, could be rescued and repaird albeit at some expense.  I wonder what would happen if these cars were electric?  Even I know that electricity and water are not good bedfellows.

[eastofeden]

That is a good question - would be interested in the outcome.

INnthe meantime -  can you send some rain here?

[LONDONER]

That is a good question - would be interested in the outcome.

INnthe meantime -  can you send some rain here?

I thought that some car enthusiast might answer but you are the only one so far.

Would love to send you some rain if it were possible.

[InbetweenDreams]

In short @LONDONER they would be totaled out as water finds its way into places where it doesn't belong, gearboxes, charging circuitry, mold in the interior and rust in all sorts of places where water might pool. There's a YouTube channel called Rich Rebuilds, he had purchased several salvaged Tesla's and one of them was a flood and there was water in all sorts of things. I think the battery pack was ok but had corroded some of the connectors.

[LONDONER]

In short @LONDONER they would be totaled out as water finds its way into places where it doesn't belong, gearboxes, charging circuitry, mold in the interior and rust in all sorts of places where water might pool. There's a YouTube channel called Rich Rebuilds, he had purchased several salvaged Tesla's and one of them was a flood and there was water in all sorts of things. I think the battery pack was ok but had corroded some of the connectors.

Thanks for that @InbetweenDreams, much as I thought.  I wonder if any manufacturer of electric vehicles has considered this and if they will take any action?

[InbetweenDreams]

I do think they water seal things that are more likely to come in contact with water, such as the battery packs that sit underneath the car, but as for other things they're just as susceptible to water damage as a regular car. Regular cars still face a lot of electrical problems from floods. Often here in the states you'll find what looks to be a really nice car, until you start looking under the car or under the dash and start finding rust on things that wouldn't rust in 30 years. Same thing with cars that get exposed to salt in the winter, the car will look nice, run nice but the frame is nearly rusted in two (New York state requires a yearly inspection of the frame for this reason). It's not uncommon to see cars barely 10 years old completely rusted out from all the salt.

I guess what I'm trying to say is any flooded car is most likely going to be a nightmare to the unsuspecting buyer and often cost prohibitive to properly recondition, which is unfortunate.