By Steven Symes 
Back on June 5 we covered the Morning Midas, a ship carrying EVs which caught fire off the coast of Alaska. Predictably, nobody was able to extinguish the blaze and the vessel sunk into the ocean, raising concerns about the long-term environmental impact.
Even a small lithium ion battery can be difficult to extinguish.
If you feel like you have a case of déjà vu, you’re not alone. This sort of thing has played out before, so we knew what the eventuality of this ship fire would be.
With about 800 EVs on board, those kept the fire burning hot and bright for weeks. We still don’t know if those were what originally sparked the blaze on the Morning Midas, but they sure did keep it going.
While the crew valiantly tried fighting the flames when they originally sparked, extinguishing so many lithium ion battery fires in an enclosed space proved too much. They had to abandon ship and thankfully were rescued by others who received their distress call.
The Morning Midas finally sunk on June 23, according to the US Coast Guard, which said the ship capsized at 5:35 pm, sinking to a depth of about 16,400 feet in international waters.
Not only were the EVs and plug-in hybrids onboard, so were other vehicles, over 3,000 total. Those, combined with 350 metric tons of marine gas oil and 1,530 metric tons of very low sulfur fuel oil are sitting at the bottom of the ocean.
While the Coast Guard says in a press release no “visible signs of pollution” have been spotted so far, it’s monitoring for signs of it. We find it hard to believe that as the ship and its contents decay in the seawater, pollution won’t fill the water.
Just remember, your classic car is the one killing the environment as you occasionally drive it to meets and cruises.
Image via 5th_pass, RAFAELCORTES1/X