[sidehaas]

Overheard someone in the office today wittering about the risk of battery fires with EVs and how he thought no evidence was being made available in case it put the Government's 2030 target at risk.
I felt like countering this but realised I didn't have any actual evidence with which to do so. I realise EV batteries can suffer thermal runaway (LiFePo excluded?) but as far as I understand the batteries are well protected from fire risk and the actual incidence of EV fires is very low?
Would appreciate any links to good, straightforward evidence on the topic if it exists.
Thanks

 

[Rbrian]

You can't win against people who are brainwashed by the Daily Heil or Telegraph, they're impervious to evidence. I prefer to reframe the question. Everyone keeps a battery in their pocket, right next to their reproductive organs, and despite the Note 7 catching fire, they're not afraid of it happening again. For the same reason, they're quite happy to sit their kids on top of a tank of explosive liquid, despite the Ford Edzel catching fire. So what makes them think a car battery is different?... The right wing fossil fueled press, of course.

 

[TomH]

I'm sure that there are statistics somewhere. It's going to take decades of BEV battery fires to catch up with the one ICE fire that destroyed over 1000 cars in a multistorey carpark. Liverpool was it?

 

[simcity]

I believe the buzz phrase is FUD…

 

[Cheshirecat]

Overheard someone in the office today wittering about the risk of battery fires with EVs and how he thought no evidence was being made available in case it put the Government's 2030 target at risk.
I felt like countering this but realised I didn't have any actual evidence with which to do so. I realise EV batteries can suffer thermal runaway (LiFePo excluded?) but as far as I understand the batteries are well protected from fire risk and the actual incidence of EV fires is very low?
Would appreciate any links to good, straightforward evidence on the topic if it exists.
Thanks

Better idea for your implementation……
1 Climb onto roof at work
2 Wait for stiff breeze
3 Urinate into it
👍👍

 

[sidehaas]

The people I overheard are not stupid and I'm fairly sure would be receptive to evidence.

 

[Zebster]

Overheard someone in the office today wittering about the risk of battery fires with EVs and how he thought no evidence was being made available in case it put the Government's 2030 target at risk.
I felt like countering this but realised I didn't have any actual evidence with which to do so...

Ask them why they're wittering about this risk apparently without evidence. Your colleague is the one making the contentious claim, they are the one who should be backing it up... there should be no burden of disproof!

Or simply join in with the nonsense to make anti-EVers look stupid;

• EVs aren't just inflammable, they are sometimes involved in road traffic accidents!
• Criminals can use EVs as getaway vehicles!
• My neighbour's milkman's son-in-law's cousin drives an EV and he's a well-known sex pest!

 

[Jimbo]

 

[mishad]

From Are electric car fires really that common? | The Car Expert:

"Richard Billyeald, chief technical officer at Britain’s Thatcham Research, said EVs generally appear less likely fire risks, but the data is limited.

“Our latest research indicates that the risk of a fire for all types of EV remains less likely than for ICE vehicles. It should be noted that the usable data only goes back five years and even now the number of EVs on the roads still represents a very small sample size. This is also reflected in the safety testing we conduct in the U.K. on behalf of Euro NCAP (European auto safety), where despite the robust impacts to the front and particularly the sides of the vehicle where the battery is most vulnerable, there have been no resultant thermal events,” Billyeald said."

 

[Odinias]

Overheard someone in the office today wittering about the risk of battery fires with EVs and how he thought no evidence was being made available in case it put the Government's 2030 target at risk.

Is this guy a conspiracy theorist because he certainly sounds like one? If so then there really is no point in arguing with them as no amount of contrary evidence will ever be good enough. Conspiracy theorist will always find a way to claim the evidence was faked.

You can put a flat earther in a rocket, blast him into space, show him the curvature of the planet, bring him back safely and he will still shout "FAKE!" He'd probably claim that the windows on the rocket were actually monitors and it was all CGI or something along those lines.

The point is, their cognitive dissonance is so strong that it is impossible to reason with these people. Don't bother wasting your breath with your colleague.

 

[Mrklaw]

The people I overheard are not stupid and I'm fairly sure would be receptive to evidence.

but they are stupid.

This part “the risk of battery fires with EVs“ isnt’ stupid. Its a reasonable question although we have quite a large fleet now and I don’t think I recall any news articles about EV fires. So probably not a risk but its an ok question to ask.

This part “and how he thought no evidence was being made available in case it put the Government's 2030 target at risk” Is straight bull*** conspiracy theory and strongly suggests the first part therefore is also a leading question and not an open one. And absolutely suggests they’re not receptive to evidence.

 

[Spiny]

This is also reflected in the safety testing we conduct in the U.K. on behalf of Euro NCAP (European auto safety), where despite the robust impacts to the front and particularly the sides of the vehicle where the battery is most vulnerable, there have been no resultant thermal events,” Billyeald said."

Do they test ICE vehicles with a full tank of petrol? Just asking....

 

[Orrery]

I know a remote family member had a BMW i3 which went up in flames, no warning. It does happen, but I wonder why we worry when we've been driving petrol cars around with 12 gallons of what is effectively explosive in the tank.

 

[simcity]

A Hackney community bus spontaneously combusted a month or two back.

Amazing what a full tank of diesel will do… to the cars parked on either side. Wasn’t much left of the bus.

 

[donald]

Overheard someone in the office today wittering about the risk of battery fires with EVs and how he thought no evidence was being made available in case it put the Government's 2030 target at risk.
I felt like countering this but realised I didn't have any actual evidence with which to do so. I realise EV batteries can suffer thermal runaway (LiFePo excluded?) but as far as I understand the batteries are well protected from fire risk and the actual incidence of EV fires is very low?
Would appreciate any links to good, straightforward evidence on the topic if it exists.
Thanks

You have disclosed your bias already with the pejorative 'wittering about'.

If the speaker was merely identifying a lack of data, it seems they would be correct.

Different battery chemistries are varyingly unstable to spontaneous thermal events, but it's usually associated with failure of other electronics on the car.

It's a similar issue for speed of driving; the speed one drives at rarely affects frequency of accidents, but impacts severity of accidents. Still, the law seeks to minimise high speed driving because severity is considered impactful.

So I think if the speaker was expressing an observation that the data is being white-washed well, this thread proves it.

Let's just have the objective data. I don't see anything 'wittering' about asking for that.

I don't suppose there is much of any difference, but why hide it, disregard it and call it FUD before the data is even available? What's the motivation for that?

 

[simcity]

Anyone seen a combine or tractor go up on flames?

A squirt of hydraulic oil or diesel on a hot manifold and you get this….that was a JCB Fastrac

(May 2017 in Diss)

 

[simcity]

I’ve yet to spot an actual EV fire or remains of one ‘in the wild’

However I’ve come across plenty of ICE based cars, trucks, buses, tractors and combines spontaneously going up in 🔥🔥

 

[M4rm1t3]

Just remember.
Lies spread faster than the truth.

And the truth is pretty boring in most cases.

At work I've heard it all about evs, and every time i all where they've heard such tosh.

The daily fail and the sun top the leagues.

 

[sidehaas]

You have disclosed your bias already with the pejorative 'wittering about'.

If the speaker was merely identifying a lack of data, it seems they would be correct.

Different battery chemistries are varyingly unstable to spontaneous thermal events, but it's usually associated with failure of other electronics on the car.

It's a similar issue for speed of driving; the speed one drives at rarely affects frequency of accidents, but impacts severity of accidents. Still, the law seeks to minimise high speed driving because severity is considered impactful.

So I think if the speaker was expressing an observation that the data is being white-washed well, this thread proves it.

Let's just have the objective data. I don't see anything 'wittering' about asking for that.

I don't suppose there is much of any difference, but why hide it, disregard it and call it FUD before the data is even available? What's the motivation for that?

I accept I may have a bias, but certainly have open ears.
The way he was talking (hence the wittering), I suspect he does too. However given the nature of our jobs I am absolutely confident he would be receptive to evidence if presented... suspect he has been led astray by the press.
So far only mishad has provided a link to (a summary of) evidence - the article was interesting.

 

[A_Camera]

Overheard someone in the office today wittering about the risk of battery fires with EVs and how he thought no evidence was being made available in case it put the Government's 2030 target at risk.

Is there any evidence that the Government is involved in keeping EV fires a secret...?