How safe are Battery cars.

Hello, A channel five documentary asked that question. Coventry, the one time centre of motorcar development. In home, occasionally we may have experienced an electrical device that starts to smell hot, so we pull the plug out. A battery is its own power source, integral to the vehicle, so that first line of action isn't there. Parliament has already barred electric cars from being parked in the under parliament car park. So, you decide not to have an electric vehicle, but your neighbour has one, parked outside being charged overnight. There's one, in our cul-de-sac just a few doors from me. Any opinions? This cargo ship sank carrying EVs. The vessel sank, as have others. My mind is centred not on the vehicle catching fire. It's that we don't appear to have the technology to deal with EV fires.

It's hard to know but I bet if the definitive answer turns out to be not very safe then house insurance will go up as well as car insurance. The question on your form will be 'do you have an electric car?'. 'If you have an electric car do you store it in an attached/detached garage?' If they're very unsafe then insurers will start to ask about your neighbours' cars

I think it may make a big difference if you have an electric or a hybrid which you have to plug in. We have had both and were lucky to be able to plug one car into the dryer socket in the house. I think the plug ins are a pain in the neck, especially when you have a long journey, so I have an all electric which is completely off when parked. I get 45 to the gallon around town - US gallons are less than UK - but up to 55 on long journeys. When you're tootling along at about 50-60 mph the battery renews itself. I put petrol in about every 2 months.

I have had an M G 5 since March 2021, and can charge it via a 13amp charger supplied with the car. I also have a 7 pin charger fitted in my garage but charge my car in our drive. Perhaps in some cases on board a container ship the person parking the vehicle does not put the power button off but still leaves the vehicle in the parking mode. Over many years working in the Motor industry I have seen many car fires due to poor maintenance with oil leaking onto exhaust manifolds.

I did watch the same documentary, and like you, found it extremely concerning that fire and rescue services didn't have standardised EV fire extiguishing protocols. What also struck me as odd, the use of water to cool the heat. I was always taught, not to use water on elctrical fires, but to use carbon dioxide or BCF powder extinguishers. Obviously this has been proven to be a relatively safe practice, under controlled use, water to keep the burning mass as cool as possible, rather than foam. I often feel the push towards electrification is a knee jerk reaction to solving a growing problem, polution. A sticking plaster over a gaping wound.... A petrol/diesel/LPG powered vehicle can be just as destructive, and likewise the old milk floats powered by lead acid batteries. Another point to consider: Theft of a charging lead to extract the scrap metal value.

I work in the motor industry, as an investigative engineer for market safety issues. You'd think I'd have a lot to do with 'thermal incidents' on electric vehicles, but I've seen not a single solitary one. The main causes I see (and from the Industry in general) are electrical fires - often caused by poor-quality aftermarket modifications to harnesses - and oil/fuel leaks in the hot underbonnet area. I used to see DPF runaways, but not for a few years now. However, overcharge, deep discharge, physical damage and incorrect assembly can cause thermal runaway of a car/e-scooter/house power module. If a vehicle battery begins to emit smoke (actually nanoparticles), it's gone past the point of no return, there's nothing you can do to change the situation. Not even spraying water on it, the action is all happening inside a closed box, the water can't get to it. Just get yourself out of the area as quickly as possible, as an explosion is almost inevitable.

At the moment electric cars are 4.5% fully electric and 7% hybrid. Most of them are new or newish. Might I be right in thinking that faults would follow the bathtub curve? I did consider a mild hybrid for my current car but when I compared the mpg and emissions, there was very little in it. I do more long distance mileage than short distance, so a fully electric car is just too much of a faff to charge up on trips that are already hard work. The difference in price definitely doesn't make sense for me.