A gas powered engine, obviously floods when drove in a flooded street or water. But is an electric car or even a bike be able to safely drive without malfunctioning or breaking down?
I can’t find any posts related to this, mainly I know that it is unsafe and mostly stupid to drive any thing in a flooded street as you can’t judge what’s in there. “The danger is not your car stopping, its what the water is hiding.” But hypothetically speaking, if it was a live or die situation, can you drive an ev with water high up the car.
I assume so but I might be wrong as I feel there is nothing which can break, and all the wires and connections must be waterproof.
edit: got it, thanks everyone for the replies.
In: Technology
Internal combustion engines can and are driven underwater. The important thing is that water does not get in where it’s not supposed to. An internal combustion engine can operate underwater as long as it’s airtight, so no water getting in from anywhere that it’s not supposed to, including sucking in water through the intake, which has some leeway meaning that up to a certain amount can be sucked in without stalling or breaking the engine, and as long as the engine can push out the exhaust with enough force that water doesn’t travel up the exhaust and into the engine. Many vehicles are able to be partially or fully submerged in water with nothing but a snorkel. There are also diesel submarines, which also use snorkels or other methods of supplying air to the engines when they’re submerged.
With electric motors, it’s much the same. As long as water doesn’t get in where it’s not supposed to be, they can work underwater. The problem is that it takes a lot less water to incapacitate an electric drivetrain. As long as every cable, every contactor, every component is sealed watertight, it can work.
So in theory, as long as water doesn’t get where it’s supposed to, both can work, and electric motors better so. But in practice water does get where it’s not supposed to. Proper sealing makes components more expensive, and no manufacturer will take up that cost for something that should not be happening in the first place.
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