Gasoline cars can catch fire too, but the EV problem is that the fires do not go out using traditional techniques and the fire can re-ignite over and over even several days after being put off.
One of the main issues with EV fires isn't necessarily prevalence, but rather the hot, explosive fire caused by battery packs, which cannot be easily extinguished by firefighters. Extremely large amounts of water are required, and even with this, fires may burn for an extended period of time.
Furthermore, lithium ion batteries can reignite after many hours, when the car may be stored close to other cars or indoors.
Not the same at all. First, a gas car doesn't simply catch fire while sitting in a dense parking lot. That's the most likely place for an EV to catch fire, as it's charging.
Second, when a gas car catches fire, it's almost always after a car incident. Firefighters arrive, and put the fire out easily.
Do you know what firefighters do when an EV catches fire? Nothing can stop this fire. Literally nothing. So firefighters have to evacuate everyone at least half a mile in radius. Then let it burn down. Which may take a full day. Or more. Read the protocols.
An EV fire is at least 10x worse than a gas vehicle fire. Hybrid fires due to batteries are also misclassified as petrol fires. If you catch a gas fire in time it can be put out with a bit of water or a fire extinguisher. It is also exceedingly rare. An EV fire is not extinguishable, burns several times hotter than any petrol fire, may reignite for weeks or months, and emits shocking volumes of toxic gasses that can injure anyone around. Although the fires can't be extinguished, firefighters still spray hundreds of thousands of liters of water onto battery fires, and that water is polluted and not captured. The whole thing is a nightmare.
The possibility of EVs catching fire all together inside an underground parking garage in a high rise should scare the hell out of anyone sane. Sprinkers will do nothing for that, and all that heat could permanently damage the building. The gasses could suffocate anyone unlucky enough to get stuck down below.
Not all fires are created equal. The problem with battery fires is that they are hard to put out. The surest way how to put out an EV is to drop it into a big water tank and let it soak for days.
I would think most gasoline cars catch on fire because there is severe damage to the front-end, the fuel lines are ruptured, and gasoline ends up on the hot engine and ignites. I would think a major advantage of an electric car is that it doesn't have that mode of failure. So replacing it with another mode of failure that also results in front-end fires is... not great.
Data from the National Transportation Safety Board showed that EVs were involved in approximately 25 fires for every 100,000 sold. Comparatively, approximately 1,530 gasoline-powered vehicles and 3,475 hybrid vehicles were involved in fires for every 100,000 sold: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/environment-energy-coordinatio...
Statistics from 2015 showed that 174,000 vehicle fires were reported, and almost all of them involved gasoline vehicles. Tesla claims that gasoline cars are 11x more likely to catch fire than a Tesla, and that the best comparison of safety is fires per billion miles driven. If we compare using this method, there are approximately five EV fires for every billion miles traveled, compared to 55 fires per billion miles traveled in gasoline cars: https://driveelectriccolorado.org/myth-buster-evs-fire/
Non-flammable electrolyte: LiFePO4 batteries use a non-flammable electrolyte that does not catch fire even if the battery is punctured or damaged. The electrolyte is a mixture of lithium salts and a solvent that is less volatile and less flammable than the organic electrolytes used in other types of lithium-ion batteries.
High safety: LiFePO4 batteries have a lower risk of overheating and catching fire due to their more stable cathode material and lower operating temperature. They also have built-in protection circuits that prevent overcharge, over-discharge, short-circuit, and physical damage.
Gasoline fires are different than a battery fire. Battery fires are class 2 or self oxidizing. They require substantially more resources to mitigate. A gasoline fire can be extinguished with traditional fire fighting methods. Battery fires basically need to be babysat for a day while they cook off.
I've heard people say recently that electric vehicles catch fire at the same rate as gas vehicles. Proof that they're basically safe enough.
Except that has vehicles catch fire after an accident, or after 200k miles when someone let's an oil leak go on for way too long.
Electric vehicles are catching fire while basically new, and while being used in standard ways like being parked and charging in your garage. It's not common at all for newish gas cars to catch fire while parked.
Metal fires (class D) are much harder to fight than petroleum fires (class B). They can burn way hotter, reignite after seemingly going out, and of course react to water to produce hydrogen.
Current fire fighter directives for putting out BEVs is either dump a loader bucket of sand on it (which most don't have yet), or drag it some place safe and let it burn out.
Also gasoline just sits there until ignited. Lithium battery packs can have various failure modes which send them into thermal runaway. Chevy Bolt EVs are being recalled en masse and owners told not to charge overnight or in a garage, least it go off unattended.
I have an EV, but even I think the stats are misrepresented.
Gas cars catch fire pretty often. Yes. But usually they are older cars, and they often catch fire when running or soon after running hard. It is very rare to mildly drive through your neighborhood, park, and then a gas car catches fire.
EVs are catching fire less than gas cars.... That are old and being driven hard. While being new. And parked.
Also normal fuel cars catch fire, especially when refueling, fuel is highly inflammable.
I don’t understand why this hype on the (rare) EVs that catch fire when in charge.
Data from the National Transportation Safety Board showed that EVs were involved in approximately 25 fires for every 100,000 sold. Comparatively, approximately 1,530 gasoline-powered vehicles and 3,475 hybrid vehicles were involved in fires for every 100,000 sold: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/environment-energy-coordinatio...
Statistics from 2015 showed that 174,000 vehicle fires were reported, and almost all of them involved gasoline vehicles. Tesla claims that gasoline cars are 11x more likely to catch fire than a Tesla, and that the best comparison of safety is fires per billion miles driven. If we compare using this method, there are approximately five EV fires for every billion miles traveled, compared to 55 fires per billion miles traveled in gasoline cars: https://driveelectriccolorado.org/myth-buster-evs-fire/
Do you have any evidence to backup your assertions?
You stated upthread that you'd guess gasoline fueled vehicles catch fire more frequently than EV vehicles... you're going to need evidence to backup such an outlandish claim, and the cause of the fire would also need to be an accident such as the one this Tesla was involved in.
It's actually quite difficult to ignite gasoline in liquid form (which is what is in the fuel lines and fuel tank of an automobile). It must be a vapor, and it must be in the presence of an ignition source. ICE vehicles have been designed over the last 100 years to precisely not explode upon impact.
Real life isn't hollywood... cars just don't explode because of an accident... you can even shoot a full gas tank with a high caliber rifle and it'll still not explode nor catch fire. The problem you are equating to vehicles just does not exist anywhere except electronic vehicles powered by these Lithium-Ion batteries... like what is found in your average Tesla.
Anecdotally from a good friend of mine who's a fire chief at a local station, when they finally extinguish electric vehicle fires they have to park the burned car at least 50 metres away from other vehicles in their holding yards, because of the risk of re-ignition. They often put out an EV fire and then have the thing catch on fire again days later.
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