EV fires are uncommon, but so hard to deal with
Discussion
Car fires are more common than I thought. For the last 9 months I have been driving daily from Gloucestershire up the M5 to Birmingham. I see at least one vehicle fire every 2 months (2.5 hours a day on the road). Thats quite a few IMO. So far none of them have been electic cars (as far as I could see) a few have been trucks
Monkeylegend said:
SDK said:
Shock - cars catch fire sometimes 
What's the point of your post?
It's in the thread title.What's the point of your post?
What does the OP actually want? Other than another miserable and pointless anti-EV diatribe of course...
Cars catch fire. ICE cars do it a lot more often than EV ones.
Thing is with any car fire, the car isn't usable afterwards unless it is a very minor fire that is extinguished quickly. So, what is the point of the statement in this thread?
Pica-Pica said:
I think the issue is that EVs seem to catch fire unattended. ICEs seem to catch fire as a result a collision or arson. It would be interesting to compare unattended non-mailicious fires between the two types of vehicles.
What did the one in the Luton Airport car park collide with?There are far more instances of fires in conventional fuel vehicles than battery vehicles.
Whether there are more when the total vehicle density is included in any calculation, I don't know.
Fire brigade figures appear to be for all types of battery powered vehicles, therefore including bicycles and scooters, so not helpful in reaching any conclusion.
Liquid fueled vehicles, as with starting any fire, obviously require oxygen, heat and combustible material, all to be present at the same time. It is consequently unlikely that a petrol or diesel vehicle would catch fire hours after being used, because there would not be the heat requirement for combustion.
New energy vehicles generate higher temperature, smoke, and CO emission concentrations than fuel vehicles. Therefore, the risk of fire for lithium battery of new energy vehicles iis higher than that of fuel vehicles.
Lithium battery fires have been occurring hours, sometimes days, after an EVs last use.
That is one difference between the two types of vehicle and the second one is to do with thermal runaway, which results in fire brigades having little effect on extinguishing EV fires.
When batteries catch fire, it's either due to prior mechanical damage, e.g. following an accident, or the result of damage within a cell. Both can lead to a phenomenon called Thermal Runaway, where a short within the battery cell triggers a chemical reaction and extreme rise in temperature.
A few unfortunate EV users have been very unlucky, whereby their EV happened to be parked close to, or even in a integral garage when a fire occurred. The characteristic intensity of the fire, then damaged, or destroyed their home as well as the car.
Jon39 said:
Therefore, the risk of fire for lithium battery of new energy vehicles is higher than that of fuel vehicles.
'New energy vehicles' is a phrase typically used in China.
Where they have far fewer diesels as a % of all cars.
Look up 'burning rivers of diesel' to get an idea of some of the problems we've had in the UK, for example with the multi-storey car park fires in Liverpool and Luton.
Diesel doesn't evaporate like petrol, and can spread fire by pooling and flowing as a burning liquid, particularly where gravity gets involved.
Jon39 said:
There are far more instances of fires in conventional fuel vehicles than battery vehicles.
Whether there are more when the total vehicle density is included in any calculation, I don't know.
Fire brigade figures appear to be for all types of battery powered vehicles, therefore including bicycles and scooters, so not helpful in reaching any conclusion.
Liquid fueled vehicles, as with starting any fire, obviously require oxygen, heat and combustible material, all to be present at the same time. It is consequently unlikely that a petrol or diesel vehicle would catch fire hours after being used, because there would not be the heat requirement for combustion.
New energy vehicles generate higher temperature, smoke, and CO emission concentrations than fuel vehicles. Therefore, the risk of fire for lithium battery of new energy vehicles iis higher than that of fuel vehicles.
Lithium battery fires have been occurring hours, sometimes days, after an EVs last use.
That is one difference between the two types of vehicle and the second one is to do with thermal runaway, which results in fire brigades having little effect on extinguishing EV fires.
When batteries catch fire, it's either due to prior mechanical damage, e.g. following an accident, or the result of damage within a cell. Both can lead to a phenomenon called Thermal Runaway, where a short within the battery cell triggers a chemical reaction and extreme rise in temperature.
A few unfortunate EV users have been very unlucky, whereby their EV happened to be parked close to, or even in a integral garage when a fire occurred. The characteristic intensity of the fire, then damaged, or destroyed their home as well as the car.
As a quantity adjusted ratio an EV is much less likely to catch fire.
It is true that Lithium Ion batteries suffered thermal runaway but fortunately new Battery design/chemistries have largely overcome this.
Here's a nice little snippet for some data rom the states and that Luton Fire.
"One ICE vehicle catches fire in the US for every 19 million miles travelled in these vehicles. Approximately 560 people have died in ICE car fire incidents since 2018. A diesel ICE car started a fire at Luton Airport in October 2023 that damaged 1,500 vehicles"
RazerSauber said:
A Range Rover burnt down an entire car park in Luton Airport. ICE vehicles can raise merry hell, too.
.
Yep .....
...and another diesel LR took out an entire car park in Liverpool in 2018
Over 1,000 cars destroyed and over £20m estimated damage
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-4...
Car parks and diesel LR's don't get on well !
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