ICE cars are much more likely to catch fire. They really shouldn’t be allowing gas and diesel cars anywhere near their buildings.
The very first few lines in your link say after collision. We all know this, and fire departments know how to deal with it.
EV batteries are prone to thermal runaway, which is a totally different thing that some are using caution with.
One concern about fire risk could be that as EV cars get more popular, they won’t be as well maintained. There will be more clunkers and cars with body damage that the owner doesn’t get repaired. For instance, if someone gets in a minor fender-bender, they may drive off and just live with the dent. But if this is an EV car, the accident could have damaged something in the batteries or electronics which increases the risk of spontaneous battery discharge. Of course, a gas tank can also be damaged in an accident and may increase the fire risk. But the full picture of evaluating EV fire risk may be incomplete at this time if the current crop of owners tend to be more well off who can afford to keep up with routine maintenance and fix any body damage. And then there’s the issue of someone who wants to save a few bucks by swapping out batteries themselves from 3rd party battery sources or junkyard batteries.
But that’s not what the statistics are about
You’re more likely to see a gas car fire after a collision than an electric car fire, simply because electric vehicles aren’t as common on the roads as gas vehicles. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that electric vehicles are less likely to catch fire.
To find the rate of car fires by vehicle type, we collected the latest data on car fires from the NTSB and calculated the rate of fires from sales data from the BTS. Take a look at what we found below.
This is just totally false, both at a technical level and more generally. Some EV battery chemistries have no significant thermal runaway effect at all, such as LFP. But more importantly, thermal runaway only happens when there is a defect or some external cause. Further, it can be ameliorated with good pack design. When the cells are reliable and the pack is designed properly, thermal runaway just isn’t an issue. Tesla sells millions of cars and there isn’t a spate of fires.
Water, I don’t think so, and you are confirming my point to the post I responded to directly. That post said HOA’s and apartment complex’s are banning EV’s due to politics.
I’m saying they are not. They are going with a known risk factor with ICE vs. an unknown with EV’s.
The recommended method for putting out the rare EV fire is very large amounts of water to cool the battery, and deprive the fire of oxygen.
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/Model_3_Emergency_Response_Guide_en.pdf
The Swedes are seeing promise from a method of injecting water directly into the battery. Supposedly this is faster and uses much less water than the 3000-8000 gallon method.
Now your just getting emotional. It’s not totally false.
Good design, what does that mean? EV en mass is still new. Either way there is way more than just your uncle or friend saying this or that, it unknown.
Like I said in my first response.
You said “EV batteries are prone to thermal runaway”. That is a general statement that needs to be true for all EV batteries for it to be true overall.
Thermal runaway can be a problem for some battery chemistries and for some pack designs. It is not a problem for all cases, which is the statement that you made.
It’s a problem for lithium-ion batteries, in general, and not a problem associated with ICE. Most EV’s are using lithium-ion batteries. Once again, there is no way to extinguish that kind of fire, an ICE fire can easily be dealt with a common fire extinguisher.
It’s totally reasonable for an HOA or apartment complex to ban EV’s right now.
Again, it is not. Lithium-ion covers multiple chemistries. Some are prone to thermal runaway and some are not.
Thermal runaway is also a systems problem. Packs can and are designed to limit the fallout from a single failing cell. So it’s again false to say that EV batteries are prone to this without also considering the pack design.
That’s completely laughable.
And millions of Tesla’s is really nothing, it doesn’t mean anything right now. California is being unreasonably optimistic just like everyone else.
EV’s are not going to save us, there is no future where we can just substitute EV’s for ICE’s and keep going like this, in some other generation’s vision of the future.
We have to make the stand to change things now.
So, all the lies, half lies, and misconceptions about electric cars- spread by Fox, Conservative news radio and such.
The grid cant handle it! False. At least in CA. And we have ten more years.
People wont be able to find chargers!! (for daily commutes*)- false. In CA, most live in houses, not big apartment complexes, and they get solar on their roofs.
Now it “EXTREME FIRE RISK!!!”- Again false.
- trying to drive cross country in a non Tesla has been shown to be a bit of a trial by Car & Driver, etc. so it is not all a bed of roses. Electric cars are great for commuters. To drive LA to NY? Not so much. Yet.
It’s laughable that a common gasoline fire can’t be easily handled with a fire extinguisher? The fire department deals with them all the time. They cannot put thermal runaways out however, so the just let them burn.
Environmentalists pushing for the end of car culture and drastic reductions in quality of life and so on have done as much damage as any right-wing climate change denial nonsense. And they happily repeat the lies and propaganda from oil companies and other vested interests because it serves their interests also.
The public has a whole has not changed their behavior one iota from the warnings, but what has happened is that we’ve lost time in transitioning to carbon-free sources. Solar, wind, nuclear, and other sources are enough to maintain a western quality of life in a post-carbon world. And while efficiency is important, what matters most is transitioning to these sources as rapidly as possible.
Thankfully, economics is on the side of renewable energy, and we’ll see rapid growth in spite of resistance from the left and right. I just hope it happens rapidly enough.
Since he seems to be uninjured, I laughed at Officer Fire Extinguisher:
Curses. No embedding that video. Anyway, the funny moment is at 1:15.
I actually agree that EV’s have a role to play, but I see your bias now. Tech will save us and we can just keep doing what we are doing.
No need to think about changing how society functions right?
I’m a pragmatist. Have 20-30 years of telling everyone to reduce their consumption had even the slightest effect? On any side of the political spectrum? No.
Since society can’t be fixed, it’s technology or die.