The electric cars have had to deal with many difficulties since their arrival. Besides having to deal with slow growth of the infrastructure that serves their cargo or having higher prices, there have also been some myths that have followed them in recent times. One of the most famous is that They have a higher risk of fire than combustion vehiclessomething that was discussed following some viral videos featuring cars with this technology. However, the reality is quite different according to a recent study that has reached us.
The people of Aedive (Business Association for the Development and Promotion of Electric Vehicles) has joined forces with some leading companies such as Huawei, Iberdrola, Naturgy, Mutua Madrileña, Cesvimap, Wenea and Centro Jovellanos to demystify some aspects. They have focused on battery technology, emphasizing the security section to check if there is any truth to the issue of fires. The risk is always present due to various factors, but the point was to check whether it was greater or less than in traditional vehicles.
In an electrical system we see that there are external and environmental risks, electrical risks, internal defects and risks due to failure of the control system. All of them can cause overheating and short circuits that can end in the worst possible way. However, the safety of current batteries is very high, they are well insulated from external factors and there are devices that monitor that their condition is correct internally. According to the study, the probability of fire in a car is 3.2 fires per 10,000 cars. Electric cars are below average with 2.9 per 10,000…
There is also talk of the intensity of fires in electric fires and the difficulties in extinguishing them. However, it has been proven that similar amounts of heat are released and that the spread is not so uneven. In a combustion fire, gasoline can leak and cause expansion and here the lithium in the battery is the risk component. In any case, there is no risk of suffering a shock if the fire is extinguished with water, since the battery and the rest of the systems are disconnected for security reasons as soon as any problem is detected.
Other claims have been debunked, such as that aging or overloading can cause fires in electric cars, which is unfounded. Therefore, these vehicles should not be parked far from others or other accusations that have been made. The fires They usually come from failures in insulation, in operation or under extreme conditions; something that manufacturers are increasingly improving.
