🔥 Much lower risk of fire in electric cars compared to fossil fuel cars

A global study has identified 511 cases of battery fires in electric cars and hybrids since 2010.
The risk of fire in a rechargeable vehicle is 0.0012 percent, compared to 0.1 percent for combustion engine vehicles.
According to this statistic, fires in gasoline or diesel-powered cars are over 80 times more common.

Comprehensive study maps battery fires

EV FireSafe, a research project funded by the Australian Department of Defense, has conducted a global study mapping incidents where fires have spread to the battery in electric cars and plug-in hybrids. The study covers the period since 2010 and includes a fleet of 40 million electric cars and hybrids, reports Allt om Elbil.

Emma Sutcliffe, CEO of EV FireSafe, tells SR Ekot: “We have been able to verify over 500 battery fires in rechargeable vehicles. When looking at the big picture, it’s very rare for batteries to catch fire.”

Causes of battery fires

In half of the identified cases, the cause of the fire has been determined:

119 cases were caused by collisions or where the car hit something that punctured the battery
28 cases were due to flooded cars
45 cases were the result of product defects
22 cases occurred when fire spread from a nearby fire

Comparison with conventional vehicles

EV FireSafe reports that the risk of a fire in a rechargeable vehicle is 0.0012 percent. This can be compared to the risk of fire in a combustion engine vehicle, which is 0.1 percent.

Kjetil Solberg at the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning (DSB) confirms this in an interview with Motor.no: “Electric cars rarely burn, and to a much lesser extent than gasoline and diesel cars. We also see that when electric cars do burn, it’s usually in the interior and plastic, and rarely in the battery.”

Swedish statistics support the results

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) has compiled statistics for car fires in 2022. Their data shows that it is 19 times more common for a gasoline or diesel-powered car to catch fire compared to an electric car.

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