Electric cars have been subject to several high-profile recalls over fire risk. Yet, a new study shows they are less likely to cause a vehicle fire than either gas-powered cars or hybrid vehicles.
Analysts from AutoInsuranceEZ examined data from the National Transportation Safety Board to track the number of car fires and compared it to sales data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The result? Hybrid-powered cars were involved in about 3,475 fires per every 100,000 sold. Gasoline-powered cars, about 1,530. Electric vehicles (EVs) saw just 25 fires per 100,000 sold.
There is some logic to the results. After all, gasoline-powered cars depend on combustion to move. The energy transfer electric cars use to move doesn’t involve anything burning.
Researchers also tallied fire-related recalls filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2020. Gasoline-powered cars were subject to far more recalls for fire risk. EVs came in second and hybrids were a distant third that year. However, we should caution that limiting recall research to 2020 means the analysts missed most of last year’s escalating series of Chevy Bolt fire recalls.
“Despite the focus on EV fires in the news,” the researchers concluded, “they are not inherently more dangerous than gas or hybrid vehicles, although electric fires tend to be more difficult than gas fires to extinguish.”
According to the National Fire Prevention Association, an estimated 560 people died in car fires in 2018. Collisions triggered the majority of fatal fires. Car fires also caused an estimated $1.9 billion in property damage losses in the U.S.
