[benjamincburns]

Go look up the energy density of gasoline as compared to Lithium Ion batteries.

I'd much rather deal with a battery fire in a Model S than any kind of gasoline-fueled fire in a "normal" car. Battery fires are much simpler to contain, as batteries don't tend to vaporize into massive fireballs.

[noonespecial]

Edit: Totally agree with parent: just in case there was any confusion

Don't mind if I do:

  Gas = 132MJ/Gal = 36.7 KWh/gal
  X 20 gallons in your average grocery getter = 734 KWh

  Tesla battery = 60KWh : 12.2 TeslaBattery = 1 Tank gas

None of that matters. When the gas burns, all of its energy becomes heat. The energy released when a battery burns is only tangentially related to how much electric power it makes when doing its designed chemical reaction.

The battery is a fire risk because it "contains too much energy" is nonsense.

[stonemetal]

tangentially related to how much electric power it makes when doing its designed chemical reaction.

Yeah but how much electric power it makes when doing it designed chemical reaction is only tangentially related to how much energy(note no mention of electrical energy during normal operation just energy) it contains. Rather akin to saying "a gallon of gasoline doesn't contain that much energy because we are using it to turn a water wheel and a gallon of liquid falling a few feet doesn't contain that much energy."

[noonespecial]

I think we're pretty much talking about setting it all on fire in this context. But dropping them out of 3rd story windows could be fun too.

[stonemetal]

For the energy in the battery you quote how much electricity it can store as if setting it on fire was just going to drain the battery. In battery fires most of the energy comes from burning chemicals in the battery not the electrical charge it was holding.

[benjamincburns]

Yes, I agree. Reread my comment. Also note that mine is a sibling to yours, not in response to yours. ;-)