billvon said:In an 18650 battery pack without protection (eutetic material between cells, very powerful active cooling) then one cell lighting off will get the cell next to it to ignition temperature. This has been demonstrated quite a bit.Arlo1 said:Doubt it. Usually 1 cell ignites then another but the modules in a Model S are separate to make a smaller fire. So its more likely you will see some smoke then a small fire then a big fire if all the modules ignite.
The individual fuses will protect the pack if one cell sees a dead short, but not if ignition occurs.fechter said:To get a fireball that big, a large section of the pack would need to short. The individual cell fuse wires are supposed to prevent more than one (or a few) cells from blowing in this case.
Usually you see some progression from smoke or small fire to big fire that looks like someone had an explosive installed