MOSS LANDING, Calif. -- A major fire Friday at one of the world's largest battery storage plants in Northern California sent up flames of toxic smoke, leading to the evacuation of 1,700 people and the closure of a major highway. The blaze in Moss Landing started Thursday sending towering flames and plumes of black smoke into the sky. But by Friday morning, the flames and smoke had significantly diminished in size, Fire Chief Joel Mendoza of the North County Fire Protection District of Monterey County said. "There's very little, if...

NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast (0TL.F) will enter the Indian market with two premium electric SUVs, taking on homegrown rival Mahindra & Mahindra and China's BYD, which already has a presence in the world's third-largest car market. VinFast unveiled its VF6 and VF7 SUVs at the India Auto Show in New Delhi, as it hopes to draw buyers to its EVs and contribute to India's goals of eliminating carbon emissions on a net basis, said Pham Sanh Chau, VinFast's Asia CEO. "We are turning...

MOSS LANDING — A major fire at a lithium battery storage plant flared up again early Friday afternoon after authorities said it smoldered most of the morning. The blaze continued to send smoke over the community of Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area in northern Monterey County Friday, but firefighters sounded a note of optimism. Chief Joel Mendoza of the North County Fire Protection District said at a Friday morning press conference that the fire, which forced evacuations around the facility, had died down significantly by 8:30 a.m., down...

Fire at Vistra Moss Landing battery storage facility spurs evacuations: See the damage A view of flames at Moss Landing Power Plant that located on Pacific Coast Highway in Moss Landing of Monterey Bay, CA, Jan. 16, 2025. A fire at a battery power plant in Central California triggered evacuation orders and road closures Thursday night. The Monterey County Sheriff's Office issued evacuation orders Jan. 16, 2025 and health officials urged residents to stay indoors, keep windows and doors closed, limited outdoor exposure, and turn off ventilation systems.A view of...

California’s problem with fires, where wildland blazes already have scorched some 40,000 acres and consumed 12,000 homes and other buildings in Los Angeles, has gotten worse. There now is a fire that has hit a lithium battery storage site in Monterey County, and there are concerns it will jeopardize California’s power grid. A report from RedState explained, “There’s a huge fire Thursday night at a lithium battery plant in northern Monterey County. What’s a little lithium smoke in the air in the name of progress, right? “Highway 1 is closed...

This doesn't seem as if it's merely chickens coming home to roost in California, whatever size of the massive flock. It's going to feel like every kettle of vultures, condo of condors, and murder of carrion crows has set up house in the air above, just waiting for an open spot to glide in and feast on yet another casualty smoking in the wreckage. The 'Oh, it's climate change!' excuses started falling as fast as the flames raced down hillsides. Santa Ana winds have always happened. Fires in Los Angeles...

As the smoke clears from devastating Los Angeles wildfires, efforts to clean up the affected areas are being complicated by burnt-out electric and hybrid vehicles and home-battery storage systems. Lithium batteries from Tesla Inc., along with those from other carmakers, have added to the mix of toxic materials requiring specialized removal in the wake of the fires, delaying the fire victims’ return to their properties. RELATED: Huge fire at Moss Landing battery plant spurs evacuations, road closures, sends out plumes of toxic smoke “A lot of the cars in the...

Jan 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. auto safety regulator closed its probe into 6,971 Fisker Ocean SUVs on Friday over inadvertent activation of the automatic emergency braking system, as it does not expect to get further information from the bankrupt EV maker. Fisker filed for bankruptcy protection in June, citing a hyper-competitive EV market and operational challenges that hurt its ability to stem cash burn and raise additional funds. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the company's employees it was in touch with said late last month that...

If the raging wildfires across Los Angeles County weren't enough, California faced another crisis overnight as one of the world's largest battery storage facilities, situated about 100 miles south of San Francisco, caught fire, triggering area-wide evacuations. AP News reported that a fire broke out Thursday at the Moss Landing Power Plant, a natural gas-fired generation plant with thousands of lithium batteries for energy storage. Fires involving lithium batteries, as seen with electric vehicles, are notoriously difficult to extinguish and could burn uncontrollably for days.