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Some quick googling says tesla is ~70% [1] of the EV market and there is someone who claims to track every telsa fire [2] which has counts 97 fires since 2013.

by jotux 4y ago

Some quick googling says tesla is ~70% [1] of the EV market and there is someone who claims to track every telsa fire [2] which has counts 97 fires since 2013. Compare that to 45k ICE vehicles fires every year and it appears that EVs are significantly less likely to catch fire. I think if you live in one of the top 50 metro areas of the US and listen to local traffic news between June-August you'll probably hear about a traffic problem related to a car fire every few days or weeks. ICE vehicles fires are just so common we accept it and it's not reported unless especially gruesome. 1: https://electrek.co/2022/04/26/tesla-tsla-owns-75-percent-us-electric-car-market-so-far-this-year/ https://electrek.co/2022/04/26/tesla-tsla-owns-75-percent-us... 2: https://www.tesla-fire.com/ https://www.tesla-fire.com/

Cpoll 4y ago
> Compare that to 45k ICE vehicles fires every year and it appears that EVs are significantly less likely to catch fire. You haven't provided enough information to make a comparison. Googling some numbers, Tesla has sold 2MM cars, so taking that 97 number we get 0.00004 fires per Tesla. US has 275MM cars, and (2022 - 2012) * 45000 = 450000, so we have 0.00163 fires per ICE car. Conclusion: If those numbers are correct, Teslas are two orders of magnitude less likely to catch fire.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  I bet if you control for vehicle age and economic status, EVs combust at the same rate as gasoline vehicles
  - GiorgioG 4y ago
    "In 2017, 70% of the cars to catch fire were more than 10 years old." https://housegrail.com/car-fire-statistics/#1_There_were_212500_vehicle_fires_in_2018 https://housegrail.com/car-fire-statistics/#1_There_were_212...
- gunapologist99 4y ago
  Even if that's true (and your numbers do look to be similar to what I've seen), it's not relevant, because when a Tesla catches fire, it utterly immolates itself and everything around it. That is certainly not true for a gasoline fire once the fire engines roll up, to say nothing of a diesel fire, which are comparatively hard to start and easy to extinguish. It'd be far more informative to compare injuries and damages.
olyjohn 4y ago
That's very fair. I've been in multiple cars that have caught on fire on the road. In my experience, ICE fires typically start in the engine bay. Hence why there's literally a firewall between you and the engine. A small handheld extinguisher can put them out easily, and I've done this myself as well. I have no experience with EV fires, or how they start... but if it's under your ass in the battery pack, and no easy way to get an extinguisher in there... then by the time you notice, the fire may already be out of control. I think that's what the big difference is going to be. EV fires will be less common, but will be way more crazy. That's why people will notice them much more.

by jotux 4y ago

Cpoll 4y ago

> Compare that to 45k ICE vehicles fires every year and it appears that EVs are significantly less likely to catch fire. You haven't provided enough information to make a comparison. Googling some numbers, Tesla has sold 2MM cars, so taking that 97 number we get 0.00004 fires per Tesla. US has 275MM cars, and (2022 - 2012) * 45000 = 450000, so we have 0.00163 fires per ICE car. Conclusion: If those numbers are correct, Teslas are two orders of magnitude less likely to catch fire.

mrguyorama 4y ago
I bet if you control for vehicle age and economic status, EVs combust at the same rate as gasoline vehicles
- GiorgioG 4y ago
  "In 2017, 70% of the cars to catch fire were more than 10 years old." https://housegrail.com/car-fire-statistics/#1_There_were_212500_vehicle_fires_in_2018 https://housegrail.com/car-fire-statistics/#1_There_were_212...
gunapologist99 4y ago
Even if that's true (and your numbers do look to be similar to what I've seen), it's not relevant, because when a Tesla catches fire, it utterly immolates itself and everything around it. That is certainly not true for a gasoline fire once the fire engines roll up, to say nothing of a diesel fire, which are comparatively hard to start and easy to extinguish. It'd be far more informative to compare injuries and damages.

olyjohn 4y ago

That's very fair. I've been in multiple cars that have caught on fire on the road. In my experience, ICE fires typically start in the engine bay. Hence why there's literally a firewall between you and the engine. A small handheld extinguisher can put them out easily, and I've done this myself as well. I have no experience with EV fires, or how they start... but if it's under your ass in the battery pack, and no easy way to get an extinguisher in there... then by the time you notice, the fire may already be out of control. I think that's what the big difference is going to be. EV fires will be less common, but will be way more crazy. That's why people will notice them much more.