Every few months we see a story about an electric vehicle catching fire or that it is dangerous and could ignite itself. If you’re planning to buy an electric vehicle, you’ve probably seen the headlines. So are EVs really burning up everywhere and are they at greater risk of fire? It’s complicated, but the answer is no.
At this point, most people are aware of the fire issues Chevrolet faced with its Bolt EV line, which it eventually remembered for over a year. Also, this is just one of many examples if you do a quick google search.
Electric vehicles are exciting, new and very different from regular internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. However, fears of battery fires have accompanied the rise of electric vehicles overall. So below we’re going to talk about why it happens, how often it happens, how regular cars are worse, and a few other details for those interested in an EV.
Table of Contents
Why do electric cars catch fire?
Electric vehicles are powered by lithium-ion batteries. The same type of technology powers all types of devices, from your iPhone, smartwatch, scooter and laptop to the latest Tesla. We’ve seen iPhones and Samsung Galaxy devices catch fire thanks to these batteries, and we’re all familiar with reports of hoverboard fires, so it’s not just electric vehicles.
However, electric cars have much larger battery packs, high-tech cooling systems to keep them at ideal temperatures while driving, and much more that sets them apart from the tiny 5,000mAh battery in your phone.
Battery packs store tons of energy in a small space, and electric vehicles quickly drain the battery. As a result, EV battery packs can get quite hot. However, cooling systems keep everything in check. However, most EV battery fires are due to defective design, thermal runaway, a short circuit, accidental intrusion, or some other type of failure.
Chinese EV maker Nio said its fires were due to a short circuit. As for the Chevy Bolt EV, GM explained that “GM and LG have identified the presence of two rare simultaneous defects found in the same battery cell that arose during the module manufacturing process.” The problem is indicated by a torn anode tab and a folded separator inside the battery module.
Without going into too much detail, it sounds like the Chevy Bolt EV’s lithium-ion battery problem eventually led to two cells touching, a short circuit that created fire hazards.
Vehicle fires by the numbers
Current estimates assume that only around one percent of the more than 260 million vehicles on America’s roads are electric. Apparently, many more gas-powered vehicles catch fire than electric vehicles. It’s difficult to compare an internal combustion engine to an electric vehicle, but fires in electric vehicles are not as common as you might think.
And while we can’t easily compare the two, an insurance company Car insurance EZ and a slew of researchers gathered all sorts of fire data from the Bureau of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to paint a better picture.
The company compared the number of fires per 100,000 gas-powered vehicles sold to the number of electric vehicles sold, and the results are quite interesting.
According to their research, gasoline-powered (ICE) vehicles catch fire much more frequently than electric vehicles. In fact, out of 100,000 cars sold, about 1,529 caught fire.
In comparison, for every 100,000 electric vehicles on the road, only about 25 will catch fire, no matter what. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this number is very different from what I imagined.
However, it’s important to note that the bigger problem is hybrid cars. If this research is correct, these catch fire more than twice as often as normal vehicles. That is shocking.
Gasoline cars are actually worse
There are millions and millions of gas powered vehicles on the road and they catch fire all the time. In fact, around 174,000 highway vehicle fires were reported on highways alone in the United States in 2021 alone statistics.
From the report mentioned above, it sounds like regular cars are much more likely to catch fire than electric vehicles, and by a significant margin. Even in an accident, an internal combustion engine is much more likely to burst into flames than an electric car. Keep in mind that collisions, whether gas or electric cars, cause most car fires, but it’s still interesting to see how big the difference is.
Hybrid vehicles top the list
EVs are big news, which is why they’re always in the news, especially when one’s on fire. It’s easy to see a different story and think the worst. That said, we’re all used to seeing or hearing regular cars on fire, which doesn’t garner the same headlines.
But that doesn’t mean the story isn’t there anymore. Interestingly, the research above suggests that hybrid vehicles catch a lot of fire, far more than you probably expected.
If the chart above is accurate, out of 100,000 hybrid vehicles sold, around 3,474 caught fire. That is more than dual combustion engines and significantly more than purely electric vehicles. Basically, hybrid cars spark the most and electric cars are the safest, while vehicles with internal combustion engines are in the middle.
And while that certainly sounds scary, it makes sense. Hybrid vehicles have all the components of an electric car and a regular gasoline engine. You’re at double risk, not to mention having all those pieces crammed into a small space.
In the event of a collision with a hybrid vehicle, there is a risk that the gas tank or the battery system will be damaged. Also, there’s probably more electronics, moving parts, and the potential for short circuits and things like that.
Any car can catch fire under the right circumstances or in a serious accident. But when electric vehicles catch fire in a driveway, people worry. It is worth noting that these situations are rare, but they do happen.
A bigger problem is that when electric vehicles catch fire, those fires are harder to put out. We’ve even seen reports of EV fires being extinguished, towed away and later reignited, but that’s a story for another day. So why do electric vehicles always catch fire? Well, they aren’t.
Finally, all vehicles can burst into flames, but electric cars are not inherently more dangerous. As with any new technology, electric vehicles will evolve, improve and evolve over time.
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