Bandit1961
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There's mounting speculation that a spontaneous combustion of an EV vehicle could be the root cause. There's been a backlash on ebikes not being safe - this could result in a backlash of EV vehicles of some magnitude.
EV Bonfire at Luton Airport carpark
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harrisonpatm
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BBC and AP are both reporting that it's likely started by a diesel vehicle.
Luton Airport fire: Flights resume after blaze rips through car park
Commercial flights restart after a huge fire ripped through a multi-storey car park.
www.bbc.com
London's Luton Airport reopens after major disruption caused by a parking garage fire
London’s Luton Airport has reopened after a vehicle fire spread through a newly built parking garage and caused the partial collapse of the structure.
apnews.com
harrisonpatm
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Seems that social media sees "massive car fire" and immediately assumes EVs.
Comments like these don't help:
www.dailymail.co.uk
"The fire then spread as a number of electric vehicles burst into flames in a domino effect, one firefighter suggested. As many as 1,500 vehicles are feared to have been damaged."
Thanks Daily Mail!
Comments like these don't help:
Is this the car that started the London Luton car park fire?
Fire crews spent some 12 hours battling the inferno at the airport's £20million Terminal Car Park 2 after the multi-storey was engulfed by flames and caved in just before 9pm last night.
Thanks Daily Mail!
TrotterBob
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Bandit1961
10 mW
Unfortunately, we live in an age where facts seldom make the news... and that's a matter of fact.
harrisonpatm
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What's most surprising to me, that I didn't realize until I started following this story, was the number of people pointing out how much more statistically likely hybrids are for catching fire. I hadn't thought about it, but it makes sense; it has the risk factors of both EVs and ICEs.
Hillhater
100 TW
Those car fire stats are total BS !
the USA had 174,000 car fires in last year, from a total fleet of 266 million ICE cars….….….…
which turns out to be 64.1 per 100,000 !
NOT the 1,529 per 100,000 reported for ICEs,..which would have implied over 4.0 million car fires per year !
i suspect similar errors in the other EV and Hybrid figures.
EDIT…
From here..
How Many Electric Cars Catch Fire Every Year [ 2023 Updated ]
How Many Electric Cars Catch Fire Every Year?
www.carsdover.com
so the rate of EV fires per 100,000 would be >137.5 …
…and NOT the 25.1 reported.
And those 16,050 Hybrid fires reported, were from a hybrid car fleet of approx 6,000,000
which implies a rate of 267 per 100,000 !…….slightly less than the 3474 in that report !
Last edited:
TrotterBob
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Good spot, Hillhater. Cant say I'm surprised with all of the fake news floating around these days.
harrisonpatm
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Man, I hate to say it, but Hillhater might be right. Seems like AutoInsuranceEZ made a "report", and it's the same report that everyone else is citing and using to defend EVs. AutoInsuranceEZ used NTSB data that tallies all crashes and fatal accidents, and assumed all crashes mean fires.Those car fire stats are total BS !
the USA had 174,000 car fires in last year, from a total fleet of 266 million ICE cars….….….…
which turns out to be 64.1 per 100,000 !
NOT the 1,529 per 100,000 reported for ICEs,..which would have implied over 4.0 million car fires per year !
i suspect similar errors in the other EV and Hybrid figures.
EDIT…
From here..
they quote the figure of 4125 EV fires pa. In a total fleet of under 3 million..How Many Electric Cars Catch Fire Every Year [ 2023 Updated ]
How Many Electric Cars Catch Fire Every Year?
so the rate of EV fires per 100,000 would be >137.5 …
…and NOT the 25.1 reported.
And those 16,050 Hybrid fires reported, were from a hybrid car fleet of approx 6,000,000
which implies a rate of 267 per 100,000 !…….slightly less than the 3474 in that report !
And the long story short is that it's not easy at all to get accurate data on "car fires" specifically, for any engine type. Crashes, yes, but not fires.
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.
"To try to figure out where these numbers came from, we first contacted the National Transportation Safety Board, purported source for the car-fire statistics. And the NTSB's spokesman told us, "There is no NTSB database that tracks highway vehicle fires. We do not know what data AutoInsuranceEZ used for its research, but it did not come from an NTSB database." They suggested that perhaps the study authors confused the NTSB with NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. So we contacted NHTSA.
And guess what? NHTSA doesn't collect fire data in this way, either. NHTSA—which we should call "the NHTSA," but that sounds weird—collects data on crashes but says that only about 5 percent of fires are crash-related. So they rely on other sources for information, like the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). Which, in any case, doesn't categorize fires according to the type of vehicle powertrain."
TrotterBob
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Maybe we should label this the "Chevy Bolt Effect?" It is the single most recalled hybrid out there. I cant imagine very many Priuses catching fire.
jalopnik.com
Hybrid Cars Burn More Often Than Electric And Gas-Powered Cars Combined: Study
Electric cars from GM and Tesla get the most attention for fires, but hybrids burn up much more often
jalopnik.com
Hillhater
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Bob, that article is based on the same flawed data from AutoInsuranceEZ that we discussed above !
Their numbers are fundamentally wrong.
Their numbers are fundamentally wrong.
TrotterBob
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Agreed. But do you know what else is fundamentally wrong? The Chevy Bolt. 
Hillhater
100 TW
The Bolt itself is a pretty good car….until it burns !Agreed. But do you know what else is fundamentally wrong? The Chevy Bolt.
GM, like many other car makers, were too trusting in third party battery suppliers (LG) to provide a reliable product. Actually i believe LG built the entire car under contract for GM ?
But i guess we have to say GMs reliabiliity and risk assesments should have pick up these issues before production started.
