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thewayneA Tesla burning frequently makes the news because those batteries can really burn. In fact, the Phoenix Fire Department has told their crews that if you've addressed personal safety and property safety, let it burn if the battery is on fire. There have been cases where an EV that had burned and been extinguished, reignited while being towed! Tow operators now try to have distanced areas for burned EVs so if they reignite, they can just burn.
But is this a case of EVs burning more often than gas-powered vehicles?
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) reports there are about 321 car fires per day in the USA, one about every five minutes. But their stats don't break out internal combustion, EV, hybrid, what have you. So not terribly useful statistics.
Sweden, however, has some pretty accurate statistics.
From the article: "The Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap (MSB, or Authority for Social Protection and Preparedness) recently released the first report of its kind specifically tracking EV fires in Sweden and comparing them to combustion-powered vehicle fires and the results are clear: EVs are much less likely to catch fire.
Per the MSB, just 29 EVs and 52 hybrids caught fire in Sweden between 2018 and 2022. On average, 16 vehicles powered by batteries (EVs and hybrids combined) catch fire there each year. On average, 3,400 passenger vehicles catch fire each year in Sweden, meaning EVs account for 0.4 percent of all passenger vehicle fires there annually. Hybrids account for 1.5 percent, for a combined total of 1.9 percent of all passenger vehicle fires.
Put another way, gas- and diesel-powered cars account for 98.1 percent of all passenger vehicle fires in Sweden each year on average."
And the numbers have stayed low as more EVs have hit the road there. 20-24 EV fires from 2020-2023 with increasing ownership, which suggests the EVs are lowering their chance of fire.
It needs to be noted that some EVs sold in Sweden are not available here, and vice-versa.
Also: "According to the NFPA, the leading cause of vehicle fires is mechanical failure or malfunction, accounting for 45 percent of all such fires. Electrical problems are a distant second, accounting for 23 percent of the total. Not having gasoline, hot exhaust, and controlled explosions on board significantly reduces the possible ways for a fire to start."
So if someone starts talking about what a flaming death trap a BEV is, now you know some numbers behind it and that is blatantly not true.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/you-are-wrong-about-ev-fires/
Some other EV myths and their debunkings:
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/11/heres-how-to-survive-your-relatives-ignorant-anti-ev-rant-this-thanksgiving/
But is this a case of EVs burning more often than gas-powered vehicles?
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) reports there are about 321 car fires per day in the USA, one about every five minutes. But their stats don't break out internal combustion, EV, hybrid, what have you. So not terribly useful statistics.
Sweden, however, has some pretty accurate statistics.
From the article: "The Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap (MSB, or Authority for Social Protection and Preparedness) recently released the first report of its kind specifically tracking EV fires in Sweden and comparing them to combustion-powered vehicle fires and the results are clear: EVs are much less likely to catch fire.
Per the MSB, just 29 EVs and 52 hybrids caught fire in Sweden between 2018 and 2022. On average, 16 vehicles powered by batteries (EVs and hybrids combined) catch fire there each year. On average, 3,400 passenger vehicles catch fire each year in Sweden, meaning EVs account for 0.4 percent of all passenger vehicle fires there annually. Hybrids account for 1.5 percent, for a combined total of 1.9 percent of all passenger vehicle fires.
Put another way, gas- and diesel-powered cars account for 98.1 percent of all passenger vehicle fires in Sweden each year on average."
And the numbers have stayed low as more EVs have hit the road there. 20-24 EV fires from 2020-2023 with increasing ownership, which suggests the EVs are lowering their chance of fire.
It needs to be noted that some EVs sold in Sweden are not available here, and vice-versa.
Also: "According to the NFPA, the leading cause of vehicle fires is mechanical failure or malfunction, accounting for 45 percent of all such fires. Electrical problems are a distant second, accounting for 23 percent of the total. Not having gasoline, hot exhaust, and controlled explosions on board significantly reduces the possible ways for a fire to start."
So if someone starts talking about what a flaming death trap a BEV is, now you know some numbers behind it and that is blatantly not true.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/you-are-wrong-about-ev-fires/
Some other EV myths and their debunkings:
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/11/heres-how-to-survive-your-relatives-ignorant-anti-ev-rant-this-thanksgiving/
no subject
Date: 2024-11-21 03:37 pm (UTC)The nice thing about a BEV for an in-town commuter if you can plug it in at night is that you almost never have to worry about fueling it. They're very low maintenance, I understand your main item is wiper blade replacement. Because of regenerative braking, your brake pads last much longer, so you do tires every couple of years like you do for any car. You also have to replace your 12 volt battery every 2-4 years, something a lot of people get surprised by. But those seem to be your main maintenance points. No oil, no timing belts, starters, water pumps, etc. I expect my next car to be a hybrid, we don't know where we'll end up living in the next couple of years so it's hard to know if a BEV is viable yet.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-21 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-21 06:53 pm (UTC)Currently, we need one decent-sized car with good range for road trips, but as long as it has at least 300 miles, that should be acceptable. We could get by with a car with at least 200 miles as a daily driver that we could charge at night as my wife is no longer doing overnight shifts at the observatory.