Reports of electric vehicle fires might lead some people to fear the growing numbers of these vehicles will increase fire risk. In fact, replacing petrol and diesel vehicles is likely to reduce it.

I thought that the media was a little over the top with reporting every electric car fire.

Little did I realise just how blown out of proportion it was:

"…electric vehicle battery fires are rare. Indeed, the available data indicate the fire risk is between 20 and 80 times greater for petrol and diesel vehicles. "

  • zurohkiEnglish
    21·
    7 months ago

    The 12V battery has a low capacity, but it has a very high power output - it has to, to be able to turn an engine over. It’s also quite close to a lot of flammable fluids.

    You’re putting 5kW into an EV, but that’s a system designed for 150+kW of power. They don’t even get warm.

    • Dave.
      5·
      7 months ago

      Tell me something I don’t know. How about you have a good look at my post again, read the very first line, and then rebut some of my actual points.

      Simply put:

      There are more points of failure and associated risks in an active high power charging circuit in an unattended EV parked overnight versus a fossil fuelled car in the same situation. Those failures are managed by good engineering and QA during assembly and install. Do we have good engineering and QA right now in our nascent EV market in Australia? We should but we won’t really know until the size of the EV fleet in Aus gets large enough to bring any issues to light.

      The risks are miniscule, but to claim that an EV on charge presents less risk than a similar fossil fuelled vehicle parked overnight is laughable.

      • No1OP
        2·
        7 months ago

        Bring on solid state batteries!

        "Solid-state batteries address the safety concerns of traditional lithium-ion batteries by replacing the flammable liquid electrolyte with a solid counterpart, virtually eliminating the risk of fires and explosions.

        Solid-state batteries have superior characteristics compared to lithium-ion batteries, such as higher energy density, longer lifespan, and faster charging. They also do not require additional safety features, making them lighter and more efficient for electric vehicles."

        I wish there were more coming next year instead of 2028. 2028 is currently the forever “5 years away from production” in research lol

        • ephemeral_gibbon
          1·
          6 months ago

          Maybe, but there’s still a lot of energy in them and if things go wrong that energy can be released. They’re probably an improvement but good standards of manufacturing etc. Are still important