It seems the electric vehicle segment is now finally seeing the results of customers realising that EVs have their place but are not a be all for everyone, battery reliability seems to also be creating issues for some buyers too in relation to risks of thermal runaway.
It’s safe to say I think that EV and ICE will both have a place for a long time yet and it’s probably why makers like Toyota have not fully jumped into the EV segment yet perhaps?
Electric vehicle fire consultancy EV FireSafe notes in the video below that only 40% of EV fires involve the lithium-ion battery. It says there have been just seven EV battery fires in Australia including the above incident out of the 120,000 battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the road. In all cases, the battery fires were caused by damage to the battery pack: by arson, home fires, road collision or impact from road debris.
And this
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Some other figures to note include:
A study conducted by Western Sydney University in July 2023 titled "Fire Incidents, Trends, and Risk Mitigation Framework of Electrical Vehicle Cars in Australia" suggests EV fires are even less frequent: according to the researcher's methodology, Australia experiences approximately six EV fires per million EVs, comparable to the global average. This research suggests that if EV uptake follows the projected trend of reaching 1.7 million by 2030, there will be just 9-10 EV fire incidents in Australia that year.
Of 114 lithium-ion battery fires attended by Fire and Rescue NSW between January and July 2023, the bulk of these were not in electric cars, but were related to portable batteries, e-scooters, and e-bicycles. Note, this article refers to electric passenger and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) only. It does not refer to Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) like e-bikes and e-scooters which present a vastly different fire risk profile.
A 2022 analysis by insurance company AutoinsuranceEZ showed that based on US-based National Transport and Safety Board data, ICE vehicles are 60 times more likely to catch fire than electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles are 138 times more likely to catch fire (it is not clear how the analysis defines plug-in hybrids.)
Nevertheless, electric vehicle batteries pose particular safety risks. But, there are strict regulations to address risk factors of EV batteries and the high-voltage cables that connect them to a car's powertrain.
29-10-2023, 03:55 PM
Re: Ford cutting EV production
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