[adamors]

EV fires are a PITA to put out, this one needed thousands of gallons of water.

You can't smother a lithium battery fire with anything, it will continue to burn even underwater. Your only option is to cool the battery to a point where its below the point of combustion. And that takes considerable time and a lot of water.

This is also happening to relatively new cars not some 30 year old piece of junk.

[sebazzz]

Isn't water the wrong solution then? In the fire triangle of fuel-temperature-oxidizer, you can also take away the oxidizer using foam, can't you?

[Turing_Machine]

Yes. Water is also a very poor choice for gasoline fires.

At least the battery will mostly stay in one place, rather than floating off on the surface of the water, possibly setting things on fire at a considerable distance from the original source.