Safety concerns around electric vehicles continue to mount with Australian fire and rescue services in New South Wales stating they might have to make a “tactical disengagement” of a trapped car accident victim if the battery is likely to explode. Australian journalist Jo Nova covered the story, which was first mentioned in the EV blog The Driven, and commented: “They say the first responders need more training as if this can be solved with a certificate, but the dark truth is they’re talking about training the firemen and the truck drivers to recognise when they have to abandon the rescue.”
The Driven, a widely-read blog that seems highly sympathetic to a rollout of EVs, was reporting on recent testimony given to the NSW Government’s Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Batteries Inquiry. The writer suggested that first responders did not have adequate training to deal with electric vehicle collisions, and in the most serious cases, crews could be forced to abandon rescues. One particular area of concern seemed to revolve around the need to extract a trapped casualty quickly after a crash by dragging the person out in a “very undesirable manner”. Fires are a grave risk in any vehicle accident, but they can be quickly brought under control in an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.
Worries about the potential dangers inherent in EVs is likely to grow as numbers on the roads continue to rise. EV battery explosions can occur very quickly, triggering the release of highly toxic gases. When they roar into thermal overdrive, they create very high temperatures and are very difficult to extinguish. The explosion can occur after almost any collision, or be due to a fault in the initial manufacture. The fire often takes hours to control and it can reignited days after it was thought to be out. With Net Zero fanatics desperate to drive ICE cars off the road in short order, EVs are the only mass private transport solution offered. Many of the issues, including safety, that make them an inferior product compared to petrol-powered combustion cars are often ignored.
Just what can be involved in putting out a fire in an EV was dramatically detailed in a recent press release from the Wakefield Fire Dept in Massachusetts. It was called out to deal with a burning Tesla on a snowy Interstate 95, and reported:
Wakefield Engine 1 and Ladder 1 initiated suppression operations, applying copious amounts of water onto the vehicle. Multiple surrounding mutual aid communities responded as well to support firefighting operations and to create a water shuttle to bring water continually to the scene. Engines from Melrose, Stoneham, Reading, Lynnfield as well as a Middleton water tanker assisted. Firefighters had three 1¾-inch hand lines as well as a ‘blitz gun’ in operation to cool the battery compartment… Lynnfield crews established a continuous 4-inch supply line from Vernon Street up to the highway. The fire was declared under control and fully extinguished after about two and a half hours… The vehicle was removed from the scene after consulting with the Hazmat Unit… The crews did a great job, especially in the middle of storm conditions – on a busy highway.
There is little doubt that EV fires are on the rise. In the U.K., CE Safety runs Freedom of Information checks on local fire brigades and its latest survey shows an alarming rise in conflagrations. In Greater London in the 2017-2022 period, there were a reported 507 battery fires from a number of EV types, but CE Safety found a “gigantic” 219 conflagrations in 2022-23 alone. Lancashire was said to rank second with 15 EV battery fires, but this was 10 more in a single year than recorded in the five years between 2017-2022. Overall “it was concerning” to discover that the number of electric battery fires during 2022-2023 was higher in most areas than the data showed over five years from 2017 to 2022. During that year, 14 buses suffered battery fires.
There was a substantial increase in the number of e-bikes catching fire, with CE Safety noting that lithium is highly flammable and reactive. “Over-charging presents a massive risk to households with lithium-powered vehicles,” the safety organisation observed.
Concern is also rising over the transportation of EVs on car ferries. Recently, Havila Kystruten, which operates a fleet of car ferries around the coast of Norway, has banned the transportation of electric, hybrid and hydrogen vehicles. According to a report in the Maritime Executive, it is the latest step by the shipping industry, “which has become acutely aware of the increasing danger of transporting EV and other alternate fuel vessels”.
Havila’s Managing Director Bent Martini said a risk analysis had shown a fire at sea in a fossil fuel vehicle could be handled by on-board systems. “A possible fire in electric, hybrid or hydrogen cars will require external rescue efforts and could put people on board and the ships at risk,” he said. That of course is the nightmare scenario. If fire breaks out on a ferry making a 20-mile crossing in good weather, the chances of all passengers and crew surviving are good. Less good, perhaps, if fire was to break out and fill the ship with toxic smoke in the middle of a stormy November night while crossing the Bay of Biscay. Chances of survival would be diminished if the high temperatures caused nearby EVs to explode.
Mercifully, we are less and less likely to see such accidents. The list of disadvantages of EVs is lengthening by the day. Environmental concerns about the manufacture and mining of raw materials have been raised, while ‘range anxiety’ is common among drivers. EVs are more expensive than ICE cars, while knackered batteries mean that second-hand values are very poor. For those who would see the back of them, the graph below might provide some comfort.
This shows the recent decline in the share price of the American car hire giant Hertz. Back in 2021, the company pushed ahead with huge purchases of Teslas. In January it dumped 20,000 of them, and last month pushed another 10,000 onto a sagging second-hand market. Out in the real world – the world where people create wealth by providing what other people actually want – fewer drivers seemed willing to hire them. The share price tells its own sorry story. Meanwhile, EV sales across Europe tend to be driven by unsustainable tax breaks, while the cars are mainly popular with wealthy people as a second or third city runabout. An enforced political adoption of EVs is likely to destroy vast swathes of the European car industry, unable to compete with cheap Chinese imports.
If the aim is to take away personal transport for the masses, EVs are an excellent idea. Whether that will ultimately play well at the ballot box is another matter.
Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.
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More sensationalist FUD from the Daily Sceptic. I am a climate change sceptic and anti net zero, but I am ashamed at the nonsense spoken about electric vehicles by my allies. A great fuss is made over 100 electric car fires in a year; there is no mention of the 100,000 non-electric car fires a year in the UK http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/vehicle
When I read articles as badly skewed as this, I begin to wonder if the climate change articles by this author would also fall down with closer scrutiny.
Sad.
That’s a fair challenge, which Chris should meet. However, are the fires in all the other vehicles self-starting or due to accidents/vandalism/dropped cigarettes? I’ve never heard of a spontaneously combusting petrol car.
I have – but only in older cars. A neighbour’s lovingly restored VW Beetle (the real one) burst into flames outside their house. A write off. At a guess something not quite rebuilt correctly.
Also in an early DIY restoration of a Mini Mk 4 I managed to re-route the oil pressure gauge hose such that it touched the exhaust manifold. Result: a fine jet of engine oil squirting onto very hot metal. Lots of smoke but no fire thank goodness.
Attention to detail is important with high energy sources that are capable of hurling a vehicle and its delicate contents along a motorway at 70mph for a few hours.
My examples are of DIY modifications to older vehicles – what’s the excuse for EVs?
it probably happens on a smaller scale. I had a classic BMW 7 series a few years ago and the petrol tank was corroding and you could smell the petrol. At first I didn’t know where it came from. Also had a Merc E320 that stunk in the cab of petrol, yet the Garage couldn’t find a problem despite checking all the filters etc.
Many years ago I was driving a (nearly new!) Renault 5 which suddenly made a popping noise and emitted choking black smoke from under the dash. This was caused by an electrical fault, so nothing to do with the fact it was a petrol vehicle. I wonder how many ICE car fires are, in fact, due to electrical faults after all?
Fires in ICE cars and fires in EVs are ENTIRELY different matters.
Examine the number of deaths resulting from both types.
Compare the ease with which a vehicle fire for a non EV can be put out Vs an EV. You are comparing apples with oranges, putting out a battery fire is next to impossible. I’ve spoken to firefighters about this at length.
https://www.sustainable-bus.com/news/london-fire-electric-buses-recalled/
Only thing sustainable about that Bus is the fire!
The essential reason being that oil fires need oxygen, and can be extinguished by removing it. Lithium ion batteries don’t need any, and all that can be done is to cool it down until the process stops one way or another.
Do you prefer an abundance of quick fires that kill many people to a dearth of long fires that kill few or no people?
You’re forgetting about the proportion of ICE Vs EV though. In a very quick look, it seems that some 33 million cars are in the UK, with only 1 million of those being EVs.
If there is a concern with battery fires now, imagine when the majority of cars in a multistorey are EVs!
Sad.
I have not yet seen a report on the Luton car park fire.
Do the maths
I agree. EV forums detail many complaints but battery fires are clearly not a frequent problem.
The article says;
”An enforced political adoption of EVs is likely to destroy vast swathes of the European car industry, unable to compete with cheap Chinese imports.
If the aim is to take away personal transport for the masses, EVs are an excellent idea.”
That does seem to be a fair analysis of the situation, for a whole host of reasons my conclusion is that an EV is not a viable option for personal ownership, the liabilities in all sorts of ways are unacceptable for someone like me. At the same time I cannot afford the sort of lease costs that you would have to meet to lease an EV.
Chris mentions Chinese imports and indeed I gather BYD are planning to sell their budget ‘Dolphin’ model in the UK later this year. This will have a stated max range of 150 miles which equates to about 100 miles in real life. As I think I heard Geoff buys Cars recently say, who has a life so dull that 150 miles range is enough for them?
I will find it hard to feel inspired to buy a BYD Dolphin with just 150 miles range especially as it’s value will probably drop to scrap value in a few years time. It that is the only option I will probably just wait and see if we can set up a community car club and just borrow one when I need it.
So yes indeed it does seem that the whole idea is to take away personal transport for the masses.
To row back on the ban on petrol/diesel cars or to even relax the current zero emissions mandate would probably need the Climate change Act to be scrapped of hugely amended, the chances of that happening are small and would raise huge objections and legal challenges from the net zero enthusiasts.
They might be forced to roll back just like they have lately, Scotland for example. All well and good to virtue signal from a distance but when the cliff gets closer the stark reality hits hard, despite the best efforts of the WEF and their useful idiot MPs.
The first cars didn’t compare favourably with horses.
Did you read the article? it’s not the quantity of fires it’s the severity of the fire, the additional hazards they present to first responders, and the potential consequences of fires in particular situations like car ferries where the impact could be even more catastrophic.
An article I read a few years ago, from the USA Fire Fighters association, dealt mainly at the time, with electrocution of their members coming in contact with the EV car body whist trying to remove a casualty. The casualty was insulated from electrocution by the road tyres, the fire fighters were not, and quite a few got killed as a result. That area of EV car safety has been quiet for a bit, but has remained in the back of my mind ever since,
What are the comparative numbers of deaths from each type of fire? Surely that’s the most important consideration?
Every year in the UK, over 100,000 cars which equates to nearly 300 a day go up in flames and around 100 people die as a result. Around 65% of these fires are started deliberately to cover criminal activity, to make a fraudulent insurance claim or as an act of vandalism.
Many other vehicle fires break out simply due to a lack of basic maintenance and can be prevented.
The article wasn’t about people torching their cars to defraud the insurance and it wasn’t about cars left to rot until the go on fire, either.
Do the maths
When you factor in the age of the vehicle and proportion to total quantity, you find that ICEs are many, many times safer in this respect.
I don’t think you’ve done what you say.
Do you own an EV?
No
100,000. Yeah right
EV’s are the Betamax of the automotive industry.
Which green billionaire think tank funded do you work for, matey? You patently obvious attempt to undermine Chris and the DS in general is obvious to the point of being laughable. Ha Ha Ha. Bugger off. You twat.
Ouentin Wilson you Globalist soy boy, what do you have to say for yourself. Who is funding your BS.
The included story about the burning American Tesla tells of the gallons of water they used. What it does not mention is that the run off of the water used to quell an EV fire is highly toxic and should not be allowed to enter water courses.
Water & sewage hasn’t had a good press lately. Not to mention parts of the UK with fluoride. As Alex Jones said once on the radio in the days when Fife Live believed in free speech, or just a little bit….”You Fluoride head!”
Electric vehicles are the reason our rivers are polluted?
Making a fuss about EV fires is going to lead exactly nowhere.
For anyone enthusiastic about the technology they will see the miniscule number of fires as a small bump on the road to perfecting a new technology. And honestly rightly so.
Unlikely to persuade too.many people. At least, far less persuasive than the range limitations, the long charging times, the general lack of secondary market.
Personally I don’t have anything against EVs. I’m all for them existing for those that want them. What I ehemently object to is them being forced on me.
As a new technology, great. As some mandated religious artefact to signal adherence to the new climate trans-human religion, they can shove them right up Klaus Schwab’s pie hole.
Your last para made me LOL
, although WRT to your first sentence I think TheGreenAcres makes a fair point above about the severity of the impact of these fires.
“Personally I don’t have anything against EVs. I’m all for them existing for those that want them. What I vehemently object to is them being forced on me.”
Completely agree!
Oh, and I also laughed out loud at your last paragraph. Very nicely put.
Alder Hey Hospital won’t let them in to their multi-storey until their sprinkler system can cope. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c90zjne2v0jo.amp
EVs are the equivalent of the “vaccines,” ie “safe and effective.”
Luvvit! I might nick that one if you don’t mind Hux.
Is that the hospital whose morals allowed it to secretly remove organs from dead babies?
what has that got to do with the subject in hand? pure whataboutery
Something’s gone wrong with the comments on this article. The site says there are 24 comments but only 7 are displayed. One of the missing comments was made by me.
I noticed that, but is back now! Dodgy internet in these parts and that is what I thought caused it.
In essence a BEV is a UXB.
Maybe the Bomb Squad should attend road traffic accidents involving battery driven vehicles.
Yes. Detonate it and be done.
Better to remove the fuses
I am ofcourse opposed to being coerced into using any technology under the guise that it will “save the planet”, but is it the case that electric cars are going on fire more that petrol and diesel? —-I would like to have a look at some real data. Then ofcourse we need to get into discussions about the types of fire we get in different types of vehicles and it seems that EV battery fires are more dangerous and cannot be put out so easily.
“If the aim is to take away personal transport for the masses, EVs are an excellent idea. Whether that will ultimately play well at the ballot box is another matter.”
Judging by recent events the ballot box is completely irrelevant to anything these days!
The biggest push to take away personal transport for the masses comes from Sadiq, not electric cars. And the people vote for it!
only one in five of the electorate voted for Khan
If the aim is to take away personal transport for the masses, EVs are an excellent idea. Whether that will ultimately play well at the ballot box is another matter.
Play well at the ballot box, Chris? You mean free and fair elections are in the plan?
EV’s are more than just a little about the folly of the planned; i.e., command economy.
All policy makers and other officials, including the managing board members of large corporates should be required to read Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom and encouraged to read some if his other works on how planners too often fail miserably.
In addition to the huge costs in buying or leasing a modestly sized EV, the rapid depreciation, possible high battery replacement costs, what about Insurance. All cars being used on UK roads are legally required to be insured at some level minimum I think is Third Party only, unlikely a brand new car will be insured on that basic level, the Insurance for my diesel car Fully Comp with max no claims discount varied from £500 to over £1000, interesting to know how much it would be for an EV.