lightning bolt and i3

Curious - On a stormy day , which car to take out ?
i3 or metal car ?
We know , metal cars are safe , as charge remains outside. What about plastic ?
Oh , just realized, my model 3 roof is made of glass with just a metal rod in between. Not sure, how will that behave ....

Kind of an interesting question. I have no idea of the answer... but now I want to know too !

Ie - what would happen if lightning struck an i3?

Carbon fiber is somewhat conductive and the electricity always takes the path of least resistance. I do not know if they have anything else in the mix, but many of the newest commercial airplanes now have lots of carbon fiber in them and they, as opposed to cars, get hit with lightning on a regular basis. Personally, I don't give it any thought.

nashvegasr said:

Kind of an interesting question. I have no idea of the answer... but now I want to know too !

Ie - what would happen if lightning struck an i3?

Click to expand...

It's bad news if lightning strikes any car.....

theothertom said:

nashvegasr said:

Kind of an interesting question. I have no idea of the answer... but now I want to know too !

Ie - what would happen if lightning struck an i3?

Click to expand...

It's bad news if lightning strikes any car.....

Click to expand...

Ya , i read ( not experienced ) the charge stays out of the car , and does not come in the body . Its safe.

I think there's probably enough Faraday cage effect with the carbon fiber. But, regardless, being hit with a lightning strike would not be my first choice! It just doesn't happen that it hits cars that often. There's usually something higher up that it hits than a car. You need conduction from the ground, and on any vehicle, the rubber tires tend to act as a decent insulator compared to other things out there in nature.

I have actually been in a car struck by lightning. I have some nice high frequency hearing loss to prove it. There was no impact to my friend and I, outside of the fact that my ears rang for 3 days (and the aforementioned high range hearing). I had my hands on the wheel, and no burns, or anything like that.

The car (this was the 70s, so very few electronics) did not stop running, although I did notice all the dashboard lights come on for a brief second while this happened (EMP?) . The car did need a voltage regulator soon after, but those were crap in all chryslers of the era, so I'm not sure it was the cause. There was some 'browning' on the paint on the roof, but I don't recall it actually being damaged either.