A buried environmental harm lede can be found in a story about the unique nature of Tesla car crashes and fires:

Luckily, testing of the ground in the area did not show any contamination, he said. Current estimates are that it could cost between $100 to $150 apiece to clean up the battery cells, putting the total cost of the cleanup at more than $1 million.

That’s one car, one crash, at an incredibly high rate of speed into a tree. The car batteries being spread all over the place are one giant factor in this case, but how often do we get to see hard estimates of real environmental costs?

And why do I call the Tesla battery danger unique? Because, not least of all, Tesla calls themselves unique. Their very special (immoral) engineering culture manifests into a nightmare unlike any other car:

Model 3, capable of hitting 60 mph in 2.9 seconds… left the Tesla heading straight into oncoming traffic, as indicated in this photo taken from the Tesla Model 3 seconds before the crash. With the Model 3 hitting nearly 50 mph and still accelerating, the plaintiff was able to avoid the oncoming traffic, an Amish buggy and utility poles before slamming into the building [seriously injuring a woman at her desk who died two weeks later].”

Perhaps a former NHTSA senior safety adviser said it best?

Tesla is having more severe — and fatal — crashes than people in a normal data set