Electric cars have many advantages, but they also struggle with a bad reputation. The risk of fire from the battery is a particular risk. How dangerous are they really?
Munich – The theory of the extreme risk of fire in electric cars has long been disproved. Nevertheless, many consumers are skeptical and stick with diesel and gasoline. It is not just the short range of e-cars (reported by tz.de *) that scares off potential buyers. The allegedly higher fire risk of electric cars is also repeatedly up for discussion.
Fires in cars are actually nothing unusual, as the statistics show. Burners also catch fire relatively often. On the other hand, only burning electric cars often make the headlines. It is even claimed that the electric cars * ignite by themselves and that the fire brigade cannot put out the fires, reports t3n.de.
The myth about the burning electric car
In 2017, according to t3n.de, 40,000 vehicle fires a year were recorded by the German Insurance Association. At that time, an electric car boom was a long way off. 15,000 of these were actually fires, the remainder to scorching damage or short circuits as a result of this.
Are e-cars more likely to be affected by fires? Or actually more dangerous when they are on fire? Dekra writes about the fire risk of e-cars in underground garages: “High-voltage systems are reliably switched off in the event of an accident. Damage patterns comparable to conventionally powered vehicles. Even if the drive battery is severely deformed, no fire breaks out. Modern electric vehicles are as safe as any other parked vehicle while charging. Parking in an underground car park is also not a problem, as the batteries used in modern electric vehicles do not outgas. “
Experts make it clear: an electric car does not burn more frequently or faster than diesel or petrol. Electric cars offer many advantages – starting with the volume level. A lot feels different in the electric car. *
Electric vehicles can be extinguished by the fire brigade
The decisive difference in car fires are the lithium-ion batteries in electric cars. They just burn differently. A lot of water is needed to stop the chemical processes by cooling the batteries. But that has to happen first, not every trip in an e-car ends in an inferno *.
And it is also a fact: not every fire in the vehicle leads to a reaction in the lithium-ion batteries. This requires a long exposure to heat. But even then, the fire brigade is able to put out the fire *.
“Due to the current reporting in various media, it seems important to emphasize that electric vehicles can also be extinguished by the fire brigade forces,” said Peter Bachmeier, chief fire director and chairman of the specialist committee for preventive fire and hazard protection of the German fire brigades to t3n.de “This can be a little more difficult than fighting fires from conventionally powered vehicles. However, it is not more complex or dangerous than a fire in a gas-powered vehicle ”. The fire brigade association also says that “from a fire protection point of view, blocking a garage for alternatively powered cars is not indicated.”
The greatest risk currently lies in the removal of the burned-out electric cars. The vehicles could catch fire again. But even for this there are now safe procedures. * tz.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
