Adventures in an all electric vehicle.

[GRW]

I reckon the battery tech will evolve....fire breaks and compartments etc for the battery or some sort of fire protection around the battery.

I'm thinking it's probably best to do a PCP deal or lease them....once the fire stuff evolves I would imagine the first generation cars would take a big hit in value.

To have successful fire breaks would make the packs way bigger & heavier than they are already.
Also the chemical fire is internal needing no other ignition or fuel source - with incredible heat - so you'd need an extremely effective firewall to prevent the heat setting off adjacent cells.
Not sure it's very simple to solve tbh.

 

[Cobbler]

There was a car fire years ago in the Mont Blanc Tunnel (not an EV). The resulting fire and loss of life meant they invoked new rules where only 1-car at a time was allowed to be in transit at a time.
Mont Blanc is a road system.
The Chunnel is rail!

There was also a fire in the Chunnel a few years ago, a lorry caught fire, seriously damaged the lining of the tunnel & closed one of the 2 ways for quite a time while being repaired.according to Wiki, damage was estimated at £60 million.

 

[Morrisman]

There was a car fire years ago in the Mont Blanc Tunnel (not an EV). The resulting fire and loss of life meant they invoked new rules where only 1-car at a time was allowed to be in transit at a time.
Mont Blanc is a road system.
The Chunnel is rail!

Mount Blanc is 7 miles long, so everybody has to wait at the end while a single car passes through? I somehow doubt that.

 

[Kayos]

My EV is plugged in outside my house, I charge it overnight maybe once or twice a week

Being honest, I'm not going to lose sleep over the one in a billion chance it might catch fire

Although, it is yet another pointless, stupid anti EV sentiment to come from this forum so I am not surprised by it

No, Millions of Cars Are Not Catching Fire Every Year

A New York Times story about U.S. car fires references a study that gets the frequency wrong by a factor of at least 60.

www.caranddriver.com

 

[Blobber]

My EV is plugged in outside my house, I charge it overnight maybe once or twice a week

Being honest, I'm not going to lose sleep over the one in a billion chance it might catch fire

Although, it is yet another pointless, stupid anti EV sentiment to come from this forum so I am not surprised by it

No, Millions of Cars Are Not Catching Fire Every Year

A New York Times story about U.S. car fires references a study that gets the frequency wrong by a factor of at least 60.

www.caranddriver.com

Its hardly pointless and stupid, its seems if anyone disagrees with your thinking they are wrong, its all a bit tedious

 

[Blobber]

This was one in the next village to us, EV went up and caught the neighbours oil tank which in turn took the house and eventually the EV owners house

Around 25 firefighters tackle blaze at two homes near coast

Two homes were affected by the fire

www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk

 

[premmington]

My EV is plugged in outside my house, I charge it overnight maybe once or twice a week

Being honest, I'm not going to lose sleep over the one in a billion chance it might catch fire

Although, it is yet another pointless, stupid anti EV sentiment to come from this forum so I am not surprised by it

No, Millions of Cars Are Not Catching Fire Every Year

A New York Times story about U.S. car fires references a study that gets the frequency wrong by a factor of at least 60.

www.caranddriver.com

Your quote "Being honest, I'm not going to lose sleep over the one in a billion chance it might catch fire".

Yeah I'm with you on this one...

Petrol and diesel cars catch alight with electrical fires as well.

----------

I would draw the line at charging an EV inside an internal garage - built into a house or under a bedroom - or even attached to the main dwelling.

But outside on a trailing lead would be OK for me as well - or even in a freestanding garage away from the main dwelling.

Risk is small....

Domestic garages adjoined to houses have to lower floor levels due to fuel spills.

 

[GRW]

Mount Blanc is 7 miles long, so everybody has to wait at the end while a single car passes through? I somehow doubt that.

It was a few years ago when I last went through it (so maybe they've now got newer fire safety & evacuation systems?)..... but that was certainly the case then.
There was also a strict, monitored average speed limit of I think 50kph. It was very weird trundling along at snails pace totally soli, for what seemed an age to get through it.

 

[brewdexta]

So, do people charge their laptop and phone lithium batteries away from the house too?

800 tonnes of petrol going up.

Summit Tunnel fire - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[addjunkie]

Your quote "Being honest, I'm not going to lose sleep over the one in a billion chance it might catch fire".

Yeah I'm with you on this one...

Petrol and diesel cars catch alight with electrical fires as well.

----------

I would draw the line at charging an EV inside an internal garage - built into a house or under a bedroom - or even attached to the main dwelling.

But outside on a trailing lead would be OK for me as well - or even in a freestanding garage away from the main dwelling.

Risk is small....

Domestic garages adjoined to houses have to lower floor levels due to fuel spills.

The tell tale will be when there are questions on your house insurance renewal regarding EVs.

 

[MetalMonkey]

My EV is plugged in outside my house, I charge it overnight maybe once or twice a week

Being honest, I'm not going to lose sleep over the one in a billion chance it might catch fire

Although, it is yet another pointless, stupid anti EV sentiment to come from this forum so I am not surprised by it

No, Millions of Cars Are Not Catching Fire Every Year

A New York Times story about U.S. car fires references a study that gets the frequency wrong by a factor of at least 60.

www.caranddriver.com

Not really sure of the relevance of that link to us really - but I think I saw the actual data from the london fire brigade is showing about double the rate of EV fires as for ICE.
However, the data set is so small at the moment that it is difficult to draw a reliable conclusion as it could be skewed either way by a few outlayers. I imagine a better picture will emerge over time.

E-bike/scooter fires, however, are up some insane amount. That could be as a result of a rise in popularity, and also the fact the battery packs are often cheaply and poorly made.

I think the biggest problem with E.V fires is not so much the frequency, but the fact they are very difficult, (and not practical in most cases), to put out when compared to other types of vehicle fires.
"Let it burn itself out" seems to be the best strategy, but of course that presents a problem if it happens to be inside your attached garage at the time.

I think manufacturers could do a lot in terms of designing the battery packs to be safer in this regard, or have options to help contain and extinguish any potential fire.
I dare say it will all come with some form of legislation at some point - same with battery packs in homes. It is simply a "when" not an "if".

 

[Shox Dr]

So, do people charge their laptop and phone lithium batteries away from the house too?

800 tonnes of petrol going up.

Summit Tunnel fire - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Agreed. But there's not 800v [and the rest] and good knows who many amps sat there.

Not only that it's the speed and intensity of the fire.

 

[brewdexta]

The wall wart charger is more likely to set the house on fire than the battery. I've had one that started smoking, and no, not tabs

 

[daleyd]

Not really sure of the relevance of that link to us really - but I think I saw the actual data from the london fire brigade is showing about double the rate of EV fires as for ICE.
However, the data set is so small at the moment that it is difficult to draw a reliable conclusion as it could be skewed either way by a few outlayers. I imagine a better picture will emerge over time.

E-bike/scooter fires, however, are up some insane amount. That could be as a result of a rise in popularity, and also the fact the battery packs are often cheaply and poorly made.

I think the biggest problem with E.V fires is not so much the frequency, but the fact they are very difficult, (and not practical in most cases), to put out when compared to other types of vehicle fires.
"Let it burn itself out" seems to be the best strategy, but of course that presents a problem if it happens to be inside your attached garage at the time.

I think manufacturers could do a lot in terms of designing the battery packs to be safer in this regard, or have options to help contain and extinguish any potential fire.
I dare say it will all come with some form of legislation at some point - same with battery packs in homes. It is simply a "when" not an "if".

The London fire brigade figures lump all “ev” in - including scooters and bikes - of which a lot are non ce marked and poor quality. Every other set of figures show ev “cars” being much less likely to go up in flames compared to ice, with hybrid being the worst of all.

 

[premmington]

The tell tale will be when there are questions on your house insurance renewal regarding EVs.

I am already writting it into our tenancy agreement for rented property we have. "not in garages and so many mtrs from property outside walls - boundry".

 

[Kayos]

Its hardly pointless and stupid, its seems if anyone disagrees with your thinking they are wrong, its all a bit tedious

Thank you for confirming what I have long suspected

 

[Blobber]

Thank you for confirming what I have long suspected

 

[GRW]

Not really sure of the relevance of that link to us really - but I think I saw the actual data from the london fire brigade is showing about double the rate of EV fires as for ICE.
However, the data set is so small at the moment that it is difficult to draw a reliable conclusion as it could be skewed either way by a few outlayers. I imagine a better picture will emerge over time.

E-bike/scooter fires, however, are up some insane amount. That could be as a result of a rise in popularity, and also the fact the battery packs are often cheaply and poorly made.

I think the biggest problem with E.V fires is not so much the frequency, but the fact they are very difficult, (and not practical in most cases), to put out when compared to other types of vehicle fires.
"Let it burn itself out" seems to be the best strategy, but of course that presents a problem if it happens to be inside your attached garage at the time.

I think manufacturers could do a lot in terms of designing the battery packs to be safer in this regard, or have options to help contain and extinguish any potential fire.
I dare say it will all come with some form of legislation at some point - same with battery packs in homes. It is simply a "when" not an "if".

Stats tell a very different story - depending on how they are presented (& how /what data they include or leave out)

E.g. lets say that incident records indicate that vehicle type E goes on average - to account for 2 fires every 1 fire for vehicle type C

So you think "OK, that's not so terrible a risk if I choose a type E".

If however you then get the data added that says there is only 1 type E on the road, for every 25 of type C.... you have a very, very different picture.... as now the numbers suggest that a type E is not twice as likely to burn, but 100x more risk of fire if you factor in the pool of type E versus the pool of type C's.

(That's the same argument they used to trot out for the danger motorcycles presented - that while they were responsible for only a small number if road fatalities, proportionate to the number of bikes v cars, they were a much greater risk).

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

The legislation will arrive.....shortly after there is some sort of terrible fire which causes great embarrassment and requires people be seen to act I reckon!

Regardless of the frequency of fires vs the number of vehicles etc...I find the risk of a self sustaining fire in a family car not acceptable. Theres enough evidence already to suggest there is a serious safety issue I think that needs to be addressed.

 

[GRW]

The legislation will arrive.....shortly after there is some sort of terrible fire which causes great embarrassment and requires people be seen to act I reckon!

Regardless of the frequency of fires vs the number of vehicles etc...I find the risk of a self sustaining fire in a family car not acceptable. Theres enough evidence already to suggest there is a serious safety issue I think that needs to be addressed.

I suspect there may be a strong correlation between incidences of EV's "going up" & the energy density of the pack, plus the rate of charge.
It's reasonable to think a high-end, high-performance EV might represent a higher risk than a commuter model with more modest output & pack.

No doubt the very well-paid Actuaries that calculate Risk for the Insurance Industry will answer that one for us in due course.