EVs... no one wants them!

[vikingaero]

Mammasaid said:

jacob-thompson said:

Watch out when charging, these batteries are dangerous...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11834005/...

Meanwhile in Cumbria in the last 24 hours...

https://cumbriacrack.com/2023/03/08/watch-firefigh...

https://cumbriacrack.com/2023/03/08/coach-fire-clo...

Those dangerous ICE vehicles eh? Must get them off the road....

Difference is that the bike battery was being charged indoors.

There are many millions more ICE cars than EVs so yes there will be more fuel/electrical fires, but the cars will normally be away from property. When EVs become ubiquitous, we will see many more EV fires when charging that will also set light to properties because most EVs will be charged next to your house.

[Muzzer79]

jacob-thompson said:

Watch out when charging, these batteries are dangerous...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11834005/...

OK, that's ticked my "but EVs catch fire" box in EV Prejudice Bingo.

Keep going Jacob, I'm aiming for a full house.

[Mammasaid]

vikingaero said:

Difference is that the bike battery was being charged indoors.

There are many millions more ICE cars than EVs so yes there will be more fuel/electrical fires, but the cars will normally be away from property. When EVs become ubiquitous, we will see many more EV fires when charging that will also set light to properties because most EVs will be charged next to your house.

Agreed about the bike battery, probably some no name chinese rubbish from ebay.

However, why woulld you park your ICE car any differently from an EV? Most people have limited off street parking, so are going park in the same place running the cable to the car.

My point was that it's very easy to counter EV nonsense with IE nonsense if you want to.

[confused_buyer]

Perception is an odd thing.

If we weren't already used to it I wonder what the response would be if someone suggested now sitting a couple of centimetres away from a large plastic tank of highly flammable liquid moving at 70mph?

[GT9]

SpeckledJim said:

Jacob has verily shot out of the blocks in his so-far brief time with us. He's got his head around all the issues and he can see the wood AND the trees.

I for one look forward to his future insights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSlfttDnurw

[anonymous-user]

Statistically ICE vehicles catch fire far more often than EVs

Usually as a result of mechanical failure or accidents of course as well as poor maintenance

The issue with EVs is that if they do catch fire it may be while charging and they are very hard to put out. Not great with an underground carpark or attached garage

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 8th March 14:12

[CheesecakeRunner]

P. ONeill said:

If you are going to buy a Model 3 you really want the Performance model. IF.

It’s overrated. You get worse comfort and range than a Long Range for the benefit of a silly 0-60 that you rarely use and a carbon fibre spoiler that doesn’t do anything apart from fall off.

I’m glad I owned mine, but I wouldn’t buy one again. If I was getting another 3, it’d be the LR.

[Raihan]

Archie2050 said:

Statistically ICE vehicles catch fire fat more often than EVs

Usually as a result of mechanical failure or accidents of course as well as poor maintenance

The issue with EVs is that if they do catch fire it may be while charging and they are very hard to put out. Not great with an underground carpark or attached garage

Also can't just put out the fire with water as that's the whole electrical system gone. Might not go down well with insurance as well. I wonder how firefighters tackle an EV fire situation.

[SpeckledJim]

Raihan said:

Also can't just put out the fire with water as that's the whole electrical system gone. Might not go down well with insurance as well. I wonder how firefighters tackle an EV fire situation.

I think they just ignore it and keep on plastering and tree surgeoning.

Absolute lads

[Imhotep]

Maybe the build quality issues can in part explain some of the tremendous EV depreciation:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/03/08/te...

?

[Jamescrs]

Raihan said:

Also can't just put out the fire with water as that's the whole electrical system gone. Might not go down well with insurance as well. I wonder how firefighters tackle an EV fire situation.

Having done work with the fire service for years I can assure you they won't give two hoots about damaging the vehicles whole electrical system by using water or upsetting the insurance company in the process, they will happily cut the roof off any vehicle for fun also.

Fires in electrical vehicles are problematic to say the least, mainly due to the risk of the lithium battery reigniting hours and days after the initial fire, theres a link here from the fire service if you want to have a read:

https://www.bedsfire.gov.uk/Community-safety/Road-...

[anonymous-user]

Apparently the best way is to lift the whole vehicle up and drop it in a tank of water for a couple of days.

But just to reiterate, even accounting for the relative numbers of cars on the road, ICE vehicles are
Much more likely to catch fire than EVs

[bencollins4]

Jamescrs said:

Raihan said:

Also can't just put out the fire with water as that's the whole electrical system gone. Might not go down well with insurance as well. I wonder how firefighters tackle an EV fire situation.

Having done work with the fire service for years I can assure you they won't give two hoots about damaging the vehicles whole electrical system by using water or upsetting the insurance company in the process, they will happily cut the roof off any vehicle for fun also.

Fires in electrical vehicles are problematic to say the least, mainly due to the risk of the lithium battery reigniting hours and days after the initial fire, theres a link here from the fire service if you want to have a read:

https://www.bedsfire.gov.uk/Community-safety/Road-...

Indeed - last thing on the fire brigades mind is worrying about water damage! Bigger issue is water might not actually put it out!

Anyone considering a cheap model 3, just get an insurance quote first. Insurers are going off them rather quickly at the moment for many reasons, including the above.

[page3]

Imhotep said:

Maybe the build quality issues can in part explain some of the tremendous EV depreciation:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/03/08/te...

?

US built. European cars are built in China or Germany.

[Longy00000]

I recall reading an article by a Ford engineer on the original Ford EV development programme. Apparantly ( & I cannot verify this as I can't find the article) they purchased a tesla to reverse engineer it and find what areas they could learn from and while some of the tech they found was extremely useful in their own programme they also found some alarming build quality issues. The one he waxed lyrical about being some loose screws / bolts that had obviously been dropped into the battery pack during assembly and just left. His concern being they were free to roll around and were an obvious potential issue for a source of fire.
Anyway it will be interesting to see what the used EV market is like in 3 months and then we will know whether this is a blip In supply & demand or something a little more long term and thus serious.

[Longy00000]

It may have been from this
A few years ago now
https://www.google.com/amp/s/insideevs.com/news/39...
Either way not bashing tesla or upping the ford just a consideration when they build these EVs and the fire risk from the battery packs and the complexity of the electronics which may well feed back into the insurance chain too.

[Monkeylegend]

Archie2050 said:

But just to reiterate, even accounting for the relative numbers of cars on the road, ICE vehicles are
Much more likely to catch fire than EVs

Do you have the actual stats for this or is it just your gut feeling ?

[FWIW]

Archie2050 said:

But just to reiterate, even accounting for the relative numbers of cars on the road, ICE vehicles are
Much more likely to catch fire than EVs

60x more likely, apparently.

[500TORQUES]

FWIW said:

60x more likely, apparently.

How does that plot against age and reason for fire?

Age, obviously because of fuel lines and oil lines getting brittle and aging compared to the relatively young age of the EV fleet.
Reason, you have to discount deliberate acts of damage, more likely in low income areas.

It would make interesting reading.

The fire brigade info was interesting too, basically an EV ties up a unit until it's at the final yard. That's got to add a cost to insurance and to the council.

[ChocolateFrog]

Ouch for WBAC/Cinch.

Times that by several thousand. Wonder how many millions they'll have to write off.