Battery Fires

[Ghost1951]

That's pretty funny Dave. I know that one of us has a post graduate qualification in Research Methods and Statistics. If you have one too, then there are two of us.

I quoted sources which gave the results of the frequency of car fires in EVs and in ICE cars in service. The data was shown in fires per 100,000 cars, so the disparity between the numbers of the different types on the road is cancelled out.

I also mentioned the fact that most of the EVs now on the roads are quite new, and that as they age the proportions of IC and EV cars catching fire might change. We don't know, but data will emerge in time.

There is a mass of data available, quite a lot of it from insurance companies (who should know) and national safety organisations.

If you were to say that when battery fires start, they are hard to extinguish, you'd be on firm ground. As it is, talking about the fact that there are fewer EV cars on the road, when the authoritative data is not presented in absolute numbers, but in fires per 100,000 vehicles of the type, you are not.

The data shows that concerning the vehicle fleet now in service ICE cars pro-rata (per 100,000 in service) are as much as twenty times as likely to catch fire or be set on fire.

As it happens, most car fire claims (for all kinds of cars) made to insurance companies happen as a result of arson.

 

[AntonyC]

Simpson's paradox:

 

[MikelBikel]

Trouble is, pointing out that "they're relatively new" further damages BEV's reputation. Coz why would they be bursting into flames if they're so NEW?
We are already seeing pushback against our ebikes, and the Milkfloats banned from parking here & there.
How long before they're banned Everywhere? :-/

 

[portals]

I'm going to Belfast end of month and need to pick up a hire car in Dublin to get there.

Not bothered what type of engine it had (ICE/Hybrid/petrol etc.), but I'd like the one that is the most fire-proof from the outside....any suggestions....?

 

[soundwave]

I'm going to Belfast end of month and need to pick up a hire car in Dublin to get there.

Not bothered what type of engine it had (ICE/Hybrid/petrol etc.), but I'd like the one that is the most fire-proof from the outside....any suggestions....?

 

[saneagle]

That's pretty funny Dave. I know that one of us has a post graduate qualification in Research Methods and Statistics. If you have one too, then there are two of us.

I quoted sources which gave the results of the frequency of car fires in EVs and in ICE cars in service. The data was shown in fires per 100,000 cars, so the disparity between the numbers of the different types on the road is cancelled out.

I also mentioned the fact that most of the EVs now on the roads are quite new, and that as they age the proportions of IC and EV cars catching fire might change. We don't know, but data will emerge in time.

There is a mass of data available, quite a lot of it from insurance companies (who should know) and national safety organisations.

If you were to say that when battery fires start, they are hard to extinguish, you'd be on firm ground. As it is, talking about the fact that there are fewer EV cars on the road, when the authoritative data is not presented in absolute numbers, but in fires per 100,000 vehicles of the type, you are not.

The data shows that concerning the vehicle fleet now in service ICE cars pro-rata (per 100,000 in service) are as much as twenty times as likely to catch fire or be set on fire.

As it happens, most car fire claims (for all kinds of cars) made to insurance companies happen as a result of arson.

There's something wrong with your data because it's not plausible, If you look at all the causes of fires in cars, most of them are equally likely to happen in both types of vehicle, like wiring faults, arson, accident damage, etc. The causes specifi to the type of vehicle are small compared with the total causes, so there can't be a significant overall difference. There's no way in the world that one is twenty times more likely to catch fire than the other.

It's all academic, anyway. there must be a reason that EVs are starting to get banned from underground carparks, which is only going to get worse when buildings insurance companies start to panic. Sooner or later, there will be a few electric cars parked together in an underground carpark and one of them will catch fire and set light to the others, like in Luton airport. The whole building will burn down and many lives will be lost. I can only imagine the panic after that.

Maybe it's a conspiracy: The government force everybody into electric cars, then prevent you from parking anywhere due to safety reasons, so that you can't drive anywhere.

 

[soundwave]

save the world kill the 1% cant fix stupid

 

[AndyBike]

but I'd like the one that is the most fire-proof from the outside...

Fireproof in Belfast isnt the problem...

I'd check underneath

 

[Woosh]

There's something wrong with your data because it's not plausible, If you look at all the causes of fires in cars, most of them are equally likely to happen in both types of vehicle, like wiring faults, arson, accident damage, etc. The causes specifi to the type of vehicle are small compared with the total causes, so there can't be a significant overall difference. There's no way in the world that one is twenty times more likely to catch fire than the other.

It's all academic, anyway. there must be a reason that EVs are starting to get banned from underground carparks, which is only going to get worse when buildings insurance companies start to panic. Sooner or later, there will be a few electric cars parked together in an underground carpark and one of them will catch fire and set light to the others, like in Luton airport. The whole building will burn down and many lives will be lost. I can only imagine the panic after that.

Maybe it's a conspiracy: The government force everybody into electric cars, then prevent you from parking anywhere due to safety reasons, so that you can't drive anywhere.

Battery fire is a short term problem. It is diminishing all the time. Fossil fuel tank on the other hand is a well known risk. You only need a matchstick.

 

[Ghost1951]

Battery fire is a short term problem. It is diminishing all the time. Fossil fuel tank on the other hand is a well known risk. You only need a matchstick.

I remember owning a horrible morris marina car in the 1970s. It always smelled of petrol. I crawled underneath and the tank was seeping petrol through pourous rust. I remember replacing it in the street outside my house. It could have gone up at any time. That car was four years old. More recently, on my old Skoda at ten years old sprang a leak in the fuel delivery system. One day i could smell diesel while driving along, and on lifting the bonnet, there was a jet of diesel spraying accross the engine bay in a fine mist from a short length of perished rubber hose which linked two steel pipes. Fortunately, i noticed the smell of fuel and dealt with the problem in both cases. Not everybody does react in time. I see prople driving along on a flat tyre quite often. All they care about is getting where they are going. Hot engine parts like exhaust pipes and fine mist of fuel - especially petrol, and we KNOW what happens.

I think we have some here who will never give up even when it is obvious that they have been mistaken.

That said - most evs in use are not yet old. Numbers of fires could change as the ev fleet ages. We don't KNOW yet whether that will happen. I don't drive that much - about 6000 miles a year. I have seen three vehicle fires on trunk roads in about the last year. A car, a van and a truck. All showed unmistakable yellow flames of burning diesel or petrol. Not a scientific observation. Just anecdote.

 

[Ghost1951]

There's something wrong with your data because it's not plausible, If you look at all the causes of fires in cars, most of them are equally likely to happen in both types of vehicle, like wiring faults, arson, accident damage, etc. The causes specifi to the type of vehicle are small compared with the total causes, so there can't be a significant overall difference. There's no way in the world that one is twenty times more likely to catch fire than the other.

It's all academic, anyway. there must be a reason that EVs are starting to get banned from underground carparks, which is only going to get worse when buildings insurance companies start to panic. Sooner or later, there will be a few electric cars parked together in an underground carpark and one of them will catch fire and set light to the others, like in Luton airport. The whole building will burn down and many lives will be lost. I can only imagine the panic after that.

Maybe it's a conspiracy: The government force everybody into electric cars, then prevent you from parking anywhere due to safety reasons, so that you can't drive anywhere.

Fuel leaks. See post above.

EDIT:

This article by Befordshire fires service would be taken seriously by anyone who wanted to know the answer to the question of whether ICE fires are more common than EV ones. They are an obviously impartial source interested in the facts and not inclined to pursue conspiracy minded twaddle.

Electric Vehicles | Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service

www.bedsfire.gov.uk

I extract the following text from the document and post it here:

Although these fires do present a real danger, fortunately for us they remain very rare.
Data obtained by Air Quality News through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that in 2019 the London Fire Brigade dealt with just 54 electric vehicle fires compared to 1,898 petrol and diesel fires.
Although these fires remain rare, when they do occur, they can be extremely dangerous.