I’ve posted on the fire dangers of certain battery types in the past and I always get a bunch of blowback that gas cars can catch fire too. But I think the risk factors are different. Your cell phone is pretty safe because it is small. If there were lots of battery cells on top of one another, as they must be in a car battery then the risks multiply. One cell starts to overheat and the cells next to it overheat as well. As they heat each other you end up with a cascade effect. The phone can probably detect this but the overall charge on the car battery may be low, so the charger won’t know the battery has a problem and will keep charging. (This is probably not true for all types of car battery packs as some likely have sensors, but the risk is still not zero.) Then there’s getting water in the battery pack which will likely short one or more cells causing a cascade. Then there’s condensation because air gets in as the batteries are likely vented. There are probably more fires in, say, Florida than in super dry places.
I’m astonished that insurance companies aren’t cancelling policies like they have been doing for solar cells on rooftops. Probably a lot of them are on board the global climate change train but if they start to take a lot of losses, they will get off the train and then people will start losing their insurance or car fires destroying houses will be a special clause limiting claims. Once that happens people will be disincentivized to buy battery cars.
Also, I’d like to know how many people have only electric cars as their only transportation. The number one factor for people dumping their electric car was they only had the one car. The second factor was a long daily commute. If people only have the electric car as their second car, then it’s just a very expensive social statement.
<>I’m astonished that insurance companies aren’t cancelling policies like they have been doing for solar cells on rooftops. Probably a lot of them are on board the global climate change train but if they start to take a lot of losses, they will get off the train and then people will start losing their insurance or car fires destroying houses will be a special clause limiting claims. Once that happens people will be disincentivized to buy battery cars.<>
I hope you are correct, but I doubt it. Too many in the Deep State and industry are making too much EV related money to turn off the spigot.
That's not the point, you can set diamonds on fire. The point is whether the fires are the result of owner/operator mistreatment or mismangement, or whether they're a byproduct of the manufacturer's ineptitude and/or malfeasance.
Dinosaur-powered vehicles rarely if ever catch fire unless they're under or improperlI always get a bunch of blowback that gas cars can catch fire tooy-maintained or have received major damage in an accident. And they NEVER catch fire (on their own) when their electrical system is de-energized.
BEVs in general and Teslas in particular cannot make either of those claims. Many of them appear to catch fire for no other reason than they're that day's lottery winner. Don't forget that in 2019 Tesla rolled out a software update that reduced the charge rate and capacity
“Then there’s getting water in the battery pack which will likely short one or more cells causing a cascade. Then there’s condensation because air gets in as the batteries are likely vented. There are probably more fires in, say, Florida than in super dry places.”
I’m wondering what is going to happen in a few years when there are enough EV’s on the road in winter months to see how the salt treated highways are going to treat our favorite energy boondoggle.