New Study On Electric Car Fires Shocks Everyone - Here’s the Truth

So compare and contrast a truck fire due to carrying petrol fuel or Lithium iron materials or the batteries themself, or even a Tesla Semi that crashed North Cal, that took 50k gallons of water and a day or two to extinguish it's own batteries not any he was carrying. The Lithium fires cause freeways to be closed for "DAYS", ( as evidenced in CA x 3 in the last month or so ) any other fuel crash is typically usually only hours. You are kind of dumb, ( sorry..., not well informed ), good sir. A fuel vehicle is only dangerous if an ignition source is applied to it after a crack and a spill. EV's carry a hyper electric charge at all times, ie., the vehicle is dangerous at all times (touch the wrong wire, ZAPP!!! dead), it can have a runaway charge at anytime no accident required! = fire, death, loss of property, ( Why Volvo demands you park their vehicles on the street, not the garage!). I'm not an electrical engineer, but those who are, cite the danger of all of the electricity at all times, whether the vehicle is turned on or not? Just look at all of the safety regulations in place to work on these vehicles, let alone to dispose of them. Read the warning label on a Lithium AAA toy battery for proper disposal, then factor in vehicle size then times millions! I would invite you to study into history of EV's in the US around the 1920's or so, when we tried this the first time and failed. Oh, shocker..., Vehicles too heavy, limited range, and wait for it..... extreme battery fire danger!, So I know, maybe we can keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? wait, isn't that called something?.......

also the catalytic converter i have heard can start a fire inn tall dry gras. still not Seen a electric car fire hete inn Norway, but some combustian cars. også like close to half og each ev and combustian 50/50 where i live.

Thanks, Ben, for being a facts checker!
I’ve been watching your videos to help the wife and I to make the right decision on making the first EV purchase. We currently drive a Prius (great car) but it is very difficult to get in and out as we are get older and bigger. We are looking for a Tesla model S for the size and sets higher. With all the chatter out there about EV’s it’s hard to digest. I am fully solar at home and plan to charge at home. We want a used Tesla because of depreciation over the years. So our concerns are what years I should be looking for with battery deterioration. I did look into my insurance rate for fully insuring a tesla of the same year as my Prius which runs about $100.00 more every 6 months (State Farm full coverage). I will continue watching your videos to help clear the mud out there.

there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES.

there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES.
there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES. there have been 5 car fires of EV type in my area which is a rural canada area..... 4 people died after their EV burst into flames and they struck a tree. Can't wait 2030 Justinflation. Canada hides this by NOT REPORTING on KEY SPECIFIC ISSUES.

Give it ten years, and then watch what happens...

Making excuses for EV fires another bullshit video

Great work Ben!

It’s not over hyped. The number of EVs on roads are very small percent. The EVs also are owned by higher income consumers who maintain cars better, keep them in garages, etc. iCE cars owned by much broader segment , not well maintained.

Also type of fire that EVs have when crash is much more likely to kill you than much slower fires that happen. Plenty of videos show how fast EV fires take off. Many people who crash teslas are killed by fires.

Battery fires are real. You can play this issue down. Some homeowners insurance companies are not wanting to insure homes with an EV’s. For sure both homeowners and car insurance is more expensive.

I live in a retirement community and we have seen several golf cart fires and one burned their house down. So this is a real thing.

So if your battery gets bumped, it can randomly catch fire some point later. And when they go up, they go up like white phosphorous.

This is completely unsafe end of story.

I will never buy EV unless new technology of more stable safe cheap battery come

You forgot about the luton airport car park EV fire .

Electric vehicle fires are so prevalent it is raising insurance rates exponentially. You NEVER hear of a gas vehicle that is not running burning down an entire parking structure. This happens with Bevs all the time and need to be banned. An ice vehicle that is not running can only go on fire from a dead short and the fire is restricted to the wiring usually resulting in an engine harness fire until the battery cable burns the fusible link. There is no stopping a bev fire.

This video coming out days before hurricane Helene which had the world watching as 1 EV after another burst into flames certainly has an element of irony to it!

😂😂😂😂😂😂

This is how the oil companies got us scared of nuclear energy. I won't be surprised if these oil companies are paying the arsonists to set EVs on fire. That is textbook definition of terrorism!

I'm going to try to be nice but your analyzing it a little wicked.... First of all, number of gas car fires to EV car fires are you talking about the ratio order number of fires... Because there's maybe ten thousand more gas cars out there... And actually gas cars that are 30 years and older
Now this is the trick then you're not telling people, what are these cars going to do when they're 20 years old... We don't know they're doing it they're barely 5 years old
... I wouldn't down play this everything has wear and tear attached to it's time to go ...

While I agree, that EVs are overall safer, and I would not hesitate to buy one, if I ever get the need to have a car again, once a high voltage Battery is on fire, it is a nightmare to put out.

Ben, your arguments for EV fires are rather weak and don't address the real problem......the intensity and danger of explosion.

On average there are 300 car fires a day in the UK of which 1 will be an EV. Insurance and fire service data shows that ICE cars are a minimum 20 times more likely to set on fire than an E .

Where is the study? There is no myth about EV fires (lithium batteries primarily, including smaller vehicles, bicycles, scooters, etc.). Don’t be that guy that is responsible for someone being hurt or killed for giving out poor information. EVs are different from ICE in many ways and more often than not there is no reason to compare the two. If you have an EV you must understand what you are dealing with. I have worked in the automotive industry for 40 years in labs with ICE vehicles and fuel and the same with EVs and batteries. You must know what you are working around and take proper precautions. Particularly in the final product. EVs are generally quite safe despite sitting on an extremely powerful mechanism. They tend to have problems surrounding only one major issue. Change in chemistry, due to physical damage or the type of event from intrusion.

For instance the governor of Florida wrote a letter to citizens due to the increased risk of fires in EVs due to storms that have high amounts of water. They never had to do that with ICE vehicles. This is not a myth or fear mongering. It saves lives and property. A good idea. Look it up “Gov. DeSantis warns electric vehicle owners to keep them dry from seawater”.

One needs to remember that studies are more and more problematic since the “new normal” of C19. Insurance data tells a pretty good story. EV insurance is crazy high for a reason. Cost to own is becoming prohibitive as EVs are asked to carry their own weight on the economy and the environment. Pricing is coming way down, it will be interesting to see where the supply and demand cross.

I don’t think a right minded person can say these numerous events are rare. There are only a few EVs out there compared to the total worldwide fleet and much is still to be learned about how they behave in the field under daily conditions. EV events get a lot of attention because they deserve a lot of attention, because they result in death, entrapment, environmental damage in the air and water and are tied to huge property losses that have been undocumented until now.

Defects count. In the real world humans make mistakes and this must be accounted for when determining the value of having something in your life or in the world at large. Never discount defects. The ICE fires you showed were defects in manufacturing.

Again ICE fires are not the same as EV fires. EVs are very intense and tend to be at risk for reignition for many days. Batteries have to been set out in quarantine areas even during test or manufacturing if there is a sign of damage. For it is unknown what will happen next. There are intense safety practices and evacuation plans put into place and coordinated training with local fire authorities. Batteries are no joke.

Your title says “the truth”. No person owns the truth, just a perspective. I am pretty sure you are not the “All Knowing” Please don’t put yourself in the same category as Scotty....lol.

Responses to battery fires.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors to consider timely battery storage site pause following lithium fire

FEMA Emerging Hazards of Battery Energy Storage System Fires

Gateway Energy Storage System Fire: Otay Mesa, CA. Burnt for weeks

It's not just EVs. Lives, property and the environment are being impacted.

Never get seen a new ICE self combust, before even leaving the factory, on a ship, or in a dealers compound or showroom.

I've been a mechanic most of my life. My dad was a mechanic and we have had fires but Gas cars we were able to handle it.We have fire extinguishers but EV you can't fight.They do scare me. I'M WORRIED OF HAVING IN SHOP OR GARAGE or where parked.Iknow you say fires are rare but when they happen. (Yikes !)

The Numbers of EV fires should dam near be 0, there's only maybe 10% EVS on the road. EVS are extremely DANGEROUS, all you have to do its look whats happening with these vehicle where the hurricane have hit there're burning house's down because of flooding.

A positive tail now we need the truth!

Dude listening to you, it’s telling me that you have no understanding of fire.
As the previous comment

I have had 2 car fires, and both were ICE cars. And have seen many gas cars fires.

If you check the NFPA it list car fires, and haven’t gone down much in decades.

I’m as carefree on this who electric vs gas debate as what I believe one could be. At the moment I still prefer a gasoline powered automobile but I have no problem at all with EV or people who choose them. My mother is on her 3rd straight Toyota hybrid car and these vehicles have all been totally awesome. I wouldn’t have any issues with purchasing a Toyota hybrid powered vehicle but as far as a full on EV, well at this point it just doesn’t make any sense to me why you would buy a full EV over a hybrid that doesn’t need to be plugged in and can drive at 40-60mpg. Seems like this is the most functional and efficient way to drive ( I don’t own one but wouldn’t hesitate to). Apologies for rambling on and not just making my point. My point is that I don’t understand the difference between a vehicle powered by onboard fossil fuel in the tank vs a vehicle powered by batteries that are charged from electricity that is being produced by fossil fuels at its source. Is this not the same thing when you reach the bottom line? I feel no compunctions to attack or defend either gas or ev models. In fact I love and own an electric dirt bike . I also own gas dirt bikes . At the moment I enjoy and have the most fun on the electric but I wouldn’t dare take the electric on a serious trip and that’s just fine for me. Why can’t I enjoy each of them for their individual respective benefits. I don’t believe I’m quite ready to purchase an ev vehicle and the reasons why are fairly obvious and clear . I would absolutely buy a hydrid vehicle but full ev is just a bit too restrictive and I would feel too much like a babysitter.

More and more places are banning EVs. Why is that if ice cars are so much likelier to catch fire than an EV? It's because you can fool the government, you can fool people, but you CAN'T fool the insurance companies.

China has been caught hiding their stats on these EV fires. 20,000 Fires in six months of this year. Electric bikes also huge numbers causing deaths. Recently an EV Equipped Fire Dept. burned down, 23 million dollars of damage. Lithium the Trojan Horse as it is in all technology.....

The claim that EV fires are a negligeable risk is extremely disingenuous. The vast majority of EVs are still pretty new, and the vast majority of cars are still not EVs. Fires also increase in likelihood over time, especially with EVs. If ICE cars were a small minority as EVs are and were on average as new as EVs are, their fires would be the rarity. That is not even taking into account the detail that EV batteries are basically fireworks given that they are basically fuel-and-oxydizer jelly rolls whereas ICE cars have no oxydizers other than whatever oxygen happens to be around, or the detail that EV fires are many times more dangerous and destructive in every way. The claim that EV fires is not cause for concern is extremely deceitful.

An ICE car just sitting, not running or not just turned off, does not catch fire, unless it is an ELECTRICAL FIRE. EV's do catch fire just sitting. Battery/electric vehicles have been tried for over 100 years and there are just too many problems. I was an engineer working with EV's back in the late 60's, early 70's. They have their place but they are a long way from taking the place of ICE vehicles. There have been some advancements sense the 1970's but, in some ways, they have gotten worse. Lead acid batteries do not just spontaneously combust, but lithium does. Of course a lead acid battery does produce hydrogen, but not when not in use. All lithium batteries are hazardous, no matter what size. You can not just ship a camera with a battery installed. The bigger the battery, the more dangerous it is. Lithium batteries have sunk big ships.

... C cP makes no quality, tofu junk for their greed-infused Western investors from the socialist fascist 'green' arsonist leftovers in the EU and the Commonwealth who sold us out.
Apples and oranges.
Propaganda.

I was hopinng to hear what insurance companies have to say about ev fires.

Just to clarify spontaneous combustion is not catching fire. These fires are difficult to prevent. The cause is irrelevant it is the very high fire loading within which makes EV's so dangerous and the rapid spread.. Why have there been so many car park fires in recent years? Plus battery storage and the age of the vehicle is a big concern.

Ev are very dangerous they can catch fire while driving & then you can't get out then they can die if not busting a window out i wouldn't trust a ev for anything gas car any day there better than ev 100% & if gas car catches on fire you can get out of it safely & better than a ev everything is electric even the getting out of car

The following study "Thermal Modeling of the Electric Vehicle Fire Hazard Effects on Parking Building" found that BEV vehicles should be parked at least 3 meters from building walls. There are also studies showing BEVs are catching fire more frequently than ICE when age and deliberate action is taken into account. I consider the battery chemistry is inadequate at present - they do represent a very serious danger. I also believe the solutions are very near - chemistry/materials within the batteries and isolating the cells with resistant material to limit the thermal event (already being tested and could be applied). In essence it would pay to proceed cautiously as the technology is developing so rapidly. The mad rush achieves nothing environmentally. EVs will not solve the problems, they are only a small part of the improvement we need to make. I am not anti EV, I think it is a much better future, but we need to rationally progress.

Renault BEVs have a master cut-off switch and a valve in the battery that a fire hose goes in and floods the INSIDE of the battery with cold water - far, far less water than trying to cool it from the outside. A Danish company has developed a firehose spike fitting that penetrates the car floor and battery .. allowing it to flood the inside

Body corporate won’t let you put in an ev charger in Australia after insurance premium rocketed after ev fires in Australia

They are over reported because they cause an enormous amount of collateral damage.

Ev losing to much money when you want to sell them not worth buying

It's strange how I NEVER once thought about or worried about any Ice vehicle I owned catching fire ( it just didn't cross my mind despite how many of them do catch fire) and yet the big headline reporting of ELECTRIC vehicle fires seems to have made me feel quite nervous about them.

I will NEVER own, rent or ride in an EV. I will not park next to an EV. I do not want to be anywhere near one of these bombs on wheels!

I know a guy that lost half of his house because his Dodge minivan caught fire while parked in his garage.

How many of each type (electric vs. I.C.E.) spontaneously combust while shut off and parked?

If ICE vehicles can combust due to the fuel used and EVs due to the battery then that would suggest that hybrids, having both sources of combustion, would be have the highest fire per unit of all. And some statistics have been quoted that supports this theory.

You are a naive Fool whose irresponsible video could very well cause people to die someday. As a commenter already said: "An EV fire can go from smoke to Full fire in about 40 SECONDS, and once you get thermal runaway, you CAN'T put it out, you just have to let it Burn itself out, If you can douse it quickly and it seems to be out, don't relax, because it can re-ignite as many times as it wants until it has run out of battery chemicals, The other problem, Is the Fire is like a "Thermal Lance", it shoots out so hot and quick that it can Ignite another car near it or a Building." Just because they luckily don't happen often is an awful reason for downplaying the extreme danger all EV owners face. In another EV fire today in Toronto, only one person survived the horrifying fire in an EV after an accident and the only reason they lived was because a passerby pulled them out. EV fires overpower even strong people. Now let's talk about all the child-slaves in Africa who dig for the materials needed for an EV battery.