Seeing the cause of the fire
Associate Professor, Dr. Dam Hoang Phuc, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, said that the risk of fire and explosion can occur with any vehicle, not just electric or gasoline vehicles. However, considering the cause of the fire, it can be said that electric vehicles are more difficult to fight.
In fact, gasoline is the most flammable material, just a match can cause a fire. Meanwhile, electric vehicles are designed with many layers of safety protection, and it is very difficult for fire and explosion incidents to arise if the vehicle meets standards.
Current electric vehicle batteries are designed to be very safe and highly flammable. For electric cars, the inspection level is even higher. Mr. Phuc said that the vehicles must fully meet national technical standards on safety structure, such as fire safety testing with fuel tanks (burning for 2 minutes), being exposed to 95°C for 1 hour, colliding with heavy objects...
In particular, the battery system of electric cars is inspected according to European ECE R100 standards - one of the most strict safety standards today. The tests include: Testing heat shock from -60°C to +60°C in multiple cycles; fire safety testing through 4 stages; vibration testing, mechanical shock, trans f course protection, control of loading/discharge process...
Some domestic manufacturers are also applying these standards. Some also control the quality of each bullet and screws in the battery system using digital tightening crystal flags, saving all information about tightening power, time and the person performing it to the cloud storage system. This is a clear demonstration of the high safety of electric vehicles if they are manufactured and used in accordance with standards.
Speaking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Dr. Khuong Kim Tao - former Deputy Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee - said that in theory, if not used properly, all vehicles can explode. Gasoline vehicles using fossil fuels are highly flammable, while electric vehicles are less likely to burn if they follow the manufacturer's safety instructions.
Un beloved numbers
According to research by Auto Insurance EZ, based on data from the US National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSB), the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and recall data from the US government, internal combustion engine vehicles have significantly higher number of fires than electric vehicles.
Research shows that gasoline and diesel vehicles have had 1,530 fires out of 100,000 vehicles. Meanwhile, pure electric vehicles only recorded 25 cases, meaning the burning rate of electric vehicles is only 1/61 compared to vehicles using gasoline and oil.
EV FireSafe Company (Australia) tracks electric vehicle battery fires worldwide. From 2010 to June 2023, their database recorded only 393 verified fires, out of a total of about 30 million electric vehicles in circulation.
In Sweden, a May 2023 report from the Civil Defense Agency shows that internal combustion engine vehicles are 20 times more likely to burn than electric vehicles. Of Sweden's 611,000 electric vehicles, only 23 were reported (0.004%). Meanwhile, 4.4 million gasoline and oil vehicles recorded 3,400 fires (0.08%).
globally, EV FireSafe recorded about 0.0012% of electric tourist vehicles burned in the period 2010 - 2023. Meanwhile, based on data from many countries, the risk of fire in gasoline and diesel vehicles is about 0.1% - 80 times higher than in electric vehicles.
Tesla's internal report in 2020 said that for every 330 million kilometers of travel, there is one Tesla car fire. While data from the US National Association for Fire Prevention and Fighting shows that this rate for vehicles in general is one fire per 30.6 million kilometers.
It can be said that converting vehicles using fossil fuels that pollute the environment to clean vehicles such as electric vehicles is an irreversible trend. Therefore, people not only have to comply but also need to join hands with the state to carry out the conversion to create a cleaner living environment.
