Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Electric cars on fire

I like to think I may be bias averse on many things in life, and that follows on to my EV ownership, despite being I m/cycle and car enthusiast no doubt since I first saw either from my pram...As the fortunate owner of two hobby related petrol engined vehicles of 3 litres and over, I have to admit that my Tesla would be the last vehicle I might be likely to cash in, if things became financially restricted, as it far exceeds the likely base transportation requirements of the old man I have become in the passage of time.... Though I would give up driving before thinking of depending on it`s auto pilot functionality.

As for it being likely to be written off for something that might be simply repaired on an ICE powered machine, I guess that is a risk/cost, add to that the battery fire risk too, and any others you might think of, but then do we not assess the risks on the majority of important decisions financial and otherwise that we might make...?

Whether EV might work out beneficial to existence on the planet for current or future generations, I have no idea, I just hope that it might...which was just part of my thinking to encourage my good lady to research whether or not an EV might suit her requirements, given her 6 year old Evoque was seemingly becoming repeatedly troublesome (sensor issues) and the main dealer predicted a total of 3 weeks before they could look at it, the first time and 7 weeks for the second and similar fault on another different but identical sensor.... !!

Given we had both retired and our annual mileage was greatly reduced, that short trips to the shops and back were far better suited to an EV than a diesel Evoque, and that there can be no denying that an electric motor has not only far fewer moving parts than even the simplest ICE, let alone modernday engines with so many sensors and actuators to reduce their emissions, it seemed logical that if the Tesla tec could be reasonably trusted, then an EV might be worth trying....

Two years + in, all be it only circa 6.5k miles covered, as above, it suits my way of life at present and seems likely to continue do so until I can no longer drive... fingers crossed.

It may be that I couldt be fortunate enough to continue own my ICE vehicles past a time when I may no longer drive, perhaps with them enjoyed as as garage art, until I loose my grip on the perch...(-:

According to the SMMT battery EVs make up 3.7% of the number of vehicles on UK roads, so there's a long way to go from the current 'well to do' low-hanging fruit until EV and its infrastructure can satisfy the other 96% of the market.

My suspicion is that there's no intention for that market to be satisfied and the warm glow of Climate Redemption will be at the expense of tens of millions losing access to personal transport.

If that gets out then we may see the sort of working class 'activist-vandalism' currently aimed at ULEZ cameras happening wholesale to EV chargers and infrastructure in the spirit of "not without us you don't!! "

The trouble with Cat-Amongst-The-Pigeons 'disruptor' technology is you don't always know that the 'disruption' will be what you fondly expected! 🙂

K

Batteries can be recycled and the charging infrastructure is constantly improving.

Fortunately I don't fit with your stereotyping I'm a serial petrol head and have owned more than 100 cars, still own a large-engined petrol classic and will hopefully own a few more before I'm past it.

I'm not convinced with the environmental argument and that didn't enter my decision making. I bought an EV as everyday transport because it's convenient, incredibly cheap to run, has staggering performance and I enjoy driving it.

Going forward, the main obstacle that I see to EV ownership for many, is the high cost of charging in public chargers. I think it's something that will require government intervention in the medium term.

For anyone that can do most of their charging at home it could be argued that you'd have to be myopic or a fossil-fuel evangelist NOT to buy an EV.

Our No1 daughter runs an EV UP totally on overnight home charger fed from stored daylight ergs, she is more than happy with it (parking in Cambridge) , she works and he retired at 39 three years ago..

Hubby is equally happy with his monster Vantage, there is room for all at the Talkmorgan table without the need for any excitement..

Can I suggest it may be that the reasons ICE cars catch fire are unrelated to the reasons EVs catch fire. Hybrids have both causes combined, plus, I assume, some additional components to manage the interface between the battery and combustion engine which may also fail and contribute. The 'worst' of all worlds, perhaps.

Just a thought ...

TBH I'm not so sure. People in Rural areas tend to be less well-off, and the cost per mile of HEV compared to BEV is much higher due to the comparative inefficiency and the much higher maintenance costs. Also people in rural areas tend to have more space to park compared to city dwellers so home charging is much more feasible. Add in solar panels and you're getting practically free motoring in summer.

BTW, those of you like me who're quite rightly concerned about the sourcing of solar panels from places where concern for human rights is not of the highest might like to note that high-quality panels from companies like SunPower, which is where I got mine, are manufactured in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Every technology carries some level of risk of course, including the solar panel installation itself.
According to the “Fire Protection Association”, from January to July 2023 there were 66 fires associated with solar panel installation; a rise from just 63 during the whole of 2019. Overall they place the risk at just 0.1%, which is fine as long as you’re not part of the 0.1% of course.
They put it down to poor installations and lack of maintenance…bird nests, dirt build up causing hot spots, etc
Worth a bit of research if you have such an installation.
We had one such incident in our village a few years back where the owner was sitting in her lounge in the early afternoon reading the paper unaware that the roof was well alight! Thankfully, she was alerted by neighbours and got out safely but the bungalow was gutted.

Yeah, this is one of those things that concerns me about the way companies seem to compete on price without ever really informing the customer of the additional risk they might be taking on by going for a cheaper job.

Even apparently simple things like using incorrect stand-offs for the support frame or not installing bird mesh can have significant effects. Add that to more important things like shoddy conduits or incorrectly spaced components with inadequate air circulation and you're building significant additional risk into the setup.

We were talking about solar installations in the pub some months ago and one guy proudly announced that he'd managed to get some crazy low price for his setup and they'd completed in in a couple of days. Thinking back to my setup and how the guys were really painstaking and took a full week I inwardly shuddered to myself thinking of what corners might have been cut.

Doesn't bother me I am too old to make it a viable option and as my average electric consumption is £2.75 per day I'll leave solar panels to you youngsters.

Seems pretty high to me, 1 fire in 1000 installation-years; it implies a small development of 100 homes all with solar panels (similar to the development my daughter has just moved into) would experience a fire in the next 10 years.

If that resulted in a fatality in just 1 in 10 off these fires the risk would be classed as unacceptable by the HSE.

And then there's the insurance cost implication. Damage of £250k at a likelihood of 0.1% implies an annual expected loss of £250. That would be added to the insurance premium of everyone with a solar panel.