Let’s start with hybrid vehicles. Hybrids usually have an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, with the batteries being charged via regenerative braking and using energy from the internal combustion engine. Electric and hybrid cars have exploded in the past on multiple occasions, frequently including all electric Tesla models: as of November 2022, there are 44 known cases of deaths involving incidents of Tesla car fires. Hybrid cars are particularly prone to explosions and fires, due to the presence of a gasoline engine so close to the high-powered electric battery system.
I strongly suggest you review my previous article regarding vehicle recalls due to fire and driving hazards, including fatalities, published here on TLS. The article lists the full list of vehicles so you can easily check your vehicle: Car Manufacturers Recall 2.5 Million “Do Not Drive or Park Outside” Vehicles – Is Yours On The List?
Recent Tesla Deaths in New Jersey: Source NTSB
Notes: 311.1: https://web.archive.org/web/20230521005524/https:/dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/cresskill/news/bergen-county-man-killed-in-electric-car-crash-that-ignited-hours-long-battery-fire-on-pip/827878/ 235: https://www.tesladeaths.com/assets/NHTSA_SGO.csv 301: https://web.archive.org/web/20230305005946/https:/dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/somerset/police-fire/27-year-old-man-killed-in-route-78-crash/856663/ 228: https://web.archive.org/web/20220817111406/https:/www.nj.com/cumberland/2022/05/south-jersey-driver-killed-after-tesla-hits-trees-catches-fire.html 227: https://web.archive.org/web/20220817111343/https:/www.rlsmedia.com/article/update-shorts-hills-resident-killed-after-his-tesla-rear-ended-tractor-trailer-route-24 108: https://web.archive.org/web/20220817120052/https:/www.plainsite.org/dockets/download.html?id=305304167&z=7340d30a
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board expressed concern Wednesday about the safety risks that heavy electric vehicles pose if they collide with lighter vehicles.
Likely at the top of the list is the electric GMC Hummer which weighs about 9,000 pounds, with a battery pack that alone is 2,900 pounds — roughly the entire weight of a typical Honda Civic Sedan.
The extra weight that EVs typically carry stems from the outsize mass of their batteries. To achieve 300 or more miles of range per charge from an EV, batteries have to weigh thousands of pounds.
There’s clearly a mismatch in weight between EVs and smaller internal combustion vehicles. EVs also deliver instant power to their wheels, making them accelerate faster in most cases than most gas-powered cars, trucks and SUVs. This poses clear and present safety risks resulting from a proliferation of EVs on roads and highways.
Just a couple of examples are Ford’s F-150 Lightning EV pickup is 2,000 to 3,000 heavier than the same model’s combustion version. The Mustang Mach E electric SUV and the Volvo XC40 EV are roughly 33% heavier than their gasoline counterparts.
The NTSB investigates transportation crashes but has no authority to make regulations. For vehicles, such authority rests largely with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Even apart from EVs, the nation’s roads are crowded with heavy vehicles, thanks to a ten year boom in sales of larger cars, trucks and SUVs that’s led to extreme mismatches in collisions with smaller vehicles. But electric vehicles are typically much heavier than even the largest trucks and SUVs that are powered by gasoline or diesel.
As sales of EVs soar, 2022 was the biggest year for EV battery plant growth in the U.S. How big? $73 billion big.
The Danger to Road Surfaces
As buyers demand a range of 300 or more miles per charge, heavier batteries are necessary will surely cause more damage. Heavy electric vehicles (EVs) cause twice as much damage to road surfaces than their combustion-powered equivalents, a report earlier this week has claimed.
A UK study led by the University of Leeds found the average electric car puts 2.24 times more stress on roads than a similar petrol vehicle – and 1.95 more than a diesel. Larger electric vehicles can cause up to 2.32 times more damage to roads.
The stress on roads causes greater movement of asphalt which can lead to small cracks and eventually expand into potholes with local government authorities left to repair the damage.
Impact is even bigger with larger EVs, which can lead to up to 2.32 times more damage to road infrastructure.
The increased weight of EVs can be primarily attributed to their heavy batteries
Comparatively little research has been done by the NBER (UK) on the safety risks of increasing vehicle weights. Even so, the accuracy of the National Bureau of Economic Research In 2011, that said being hit by a vehicle with an added 1,000 pounds increases by 47% the probability of being killed in a crash remains true.
Electric vehicles also have very high horsepower ratings, allowing them to accelerate quickly even in crowded urban areas. The speed of acceleration is just not something that drivers are used to.
Newer electric (and internal combustion SUVs are tall – with a high center of gravity, even when fully occupied) they have limited visibility that poses risks to pedestrians, children, bikers or drivers of smaller vehicles as well as an increased likelihood of rollovers.
Sales of new electric vehicles in the U.S. rose nearly 65% last year to 807,000 — about 5.8% of all new vehicle sales. The Biden administration has set a goal of having EVs reach 50% of new vehicle sales by 2030 and has been offering tax credits of up to $7,500 to get there. EVs are expected to make up at least one-third of the new-vehicle market by 2030.
Electric cars’ safety concerning fire:
Critics often highlight the Li-Ion batteries of electric vehicle as a major source of risk. It is true that, the liquid electrolytes inside the Li-Ion batteries can overheat due to prolonged exposure to wrong conditions; or due to aging . There is also a chance of short circuit among the battery cells. Both these scenarios (overheat & short circuit) can catch fire.
Battery management systems (BMS) inside the electric vehicles continuously monitor and are supposed to regulate all the possible causes of fire. In case of any issue that can induce fire, these BMS completely cuts-off the battery power from the high-voltage components and cables of the car.
Even in the relatively rare event of a fire, electric vehicles battery packs catch fire at a much slower rate than a fire that is fuelled by gasoline fuel but are extremely difficult to control and put out. Lithium batteries of all sizes in so many electronic devices are known to explode. Even a 1/4 oz. 3.7 volt battery can explode and cause serious injury.
Passenger compartments in the EV are isolated from the battery pack high voltage section by a multi-layer firewall. For example, Tesla batteries are fully isolated with an under-body titanium cladding and active cooling system. Thus, there is less chance of fatal injuries or loss barring an actual explosion, when compared with the highly inflammable gasoline, Li-Ion batteries in the electric vehicles pose less risk.
How to prevent fires in electric vehicles:
Though the electric vehicle design & manufacturing takes extreme care to prevent incidents, and every vehicle goes through stringent safety requirements before arriving at the showroom, apart from a recall, the EV driver must take care of a the following important items.
1. Electric vehicles need less, but periodic maintenance: When comparing with a gasoline car, the electric vehicles have much fewer moving parts, thus requires very low maintenance. However, the battery, electric motor, and related electronic components require periodic maintenance as suggested by the EV manufacturers.
2. Use only qualified (CE / FCC or equivalent) charging stations installed by qualified electricians: In case of home charging, the stations must be installed via necessary protection switches (RCCB); and in case of semi/- public stations the charge point operators have the obligation to periodically check various fault conditions of the infrastructure.
3. Go through the safety manual & always keep it in a reachable location for the rescue workers: Mechanical construction and battery arrangement of every vehicle is different, so the manufactures always give clear instructions to the rescue teams on what to do, how to dismantle, what tools to use in case of an emergency.
This article is filled with errors and misinformation.
Teslas are not hybrids.
Your example of heavier electric cars picked the heaviest car out there. A Tesla weighs almost exactly the same as gas cars.
Electric vehicles have a low center of gravity not high, like gas cars.
Electric car fires are more than 11 times less likely than a regular gas car.
If you believe anything stated here you probably believe that you will automatically and instantly die when taking a vaccine. Same crowd.
My regular Kia gas car 2020 blew up on me while simply driving. No crashes or incidents. I’m turning to an ev now and wonder if someone Leone can shed some light on which option would be safest.
Please see the link to my previous article and check the list for your Kia model year. Everyone should check that 2.5M vehicle recall list.
You wrote “The battery, electric motor and related electronic components require periodic maintenance as suggested by the EV manufactures”
Please explain this in detail. I am very curious. To my knowledge, and the owner of a Tesla M3 this is not the case.
It is thoroughly explained in the owner’s manual.
If I can copy the link to this website I would. Google “maintenance service intervals tesla model 3”, there is nothing there related to the main battery or electric motor.
I do not know who all your sources are but there is a lot of older misinformation out there to mislead consumers. My gut is you landed on many of the misinformation websites.
Are Tesla’s perfect? No there are issues like “Phantom Braking”. But the way you wrote this piece seems to be someone who has not educated themselves fully in the topic.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-E95DAAD9-646E-4249-9930-B109ED7B1D91.html
There are daily checks you personally have to do.
I went through numerous OTA software updates. My car would occasionally accelerate without my foot on the pedal!
Kindly refer your concerns to the listed sources and included links. Nowhere in this article does it refer to any Tesla as a hybrid (but a few companies do conversions).
Thank you.
Ron what is your agenda against Tesla?
In the above article you have a link to a previous article which has a link to recalls, I clicked through and do not see Tesla listed on the NHTSA recall or “do not drive and park outside” list.
If these vehicles have an issue I am sure it would be listed there,
You also write that EV’s such as Tesla have layers of protection so barring an explosion there is a better chance of receiving fatal injuries in a gas / diesel vehicle vs an EV (such as Tesla)
You are saying there was 44 deaths in Tesla’s, please let me know how many deaths a day or year there are in all car related incidents and how many are with Tesla just randomly going on fire and killing the persons inside, vs how many vehicles are on the road.
I have no prejudice against Tesla. (Their stock is doing great!). Please download the spreadsheet at link 235, above, for the statistics you are looking for.
Like a good politician, you did not answer any of my questions, link 235 shows a spreadsheet of 22 deaths (I suppose) from 2014-2023, there is no real information there. How many people died in a Ford or Toyota during the same time frame?
You are saying how bad and dangerous Tesla is, how many vehicles are on the road, how many millions of miles are they being driven compared to any other vehicle and what is the percentage of death due to the battery exploding for no apparent reason?
Until you could clearly prove that they are more deadly per mile driven, it would see that this entire article is just your hate against Tesla (as you specifically picked Tesla out in this article).
Check all the sources listed. Visit their official sites. Do your own research. Write back. I have no biases, agendas or opinions in this article, nor do I make any accusations. The articles (both) were written to inform readers of the potential dangers of all vehicles. Politician? I used to lock them up in NYC. Yes, I was elected by my community, but I don’t do politics. Have a restful night.
I still have my 1993 vehicle and i never had any problems
There appears to be an agenda in this article! I love my 3 year old Chevy Bolt ! I’ve put 50 thousand miles on it so far ! Great my needs!
These were recalled:
2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV LT, Premier
2020-2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV
2020-2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV LT, Premier
2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV 1LT, 2LT
Check bottom of previous article referred to.
So they cause more wear to the road and they pay no gas tax to maintain the road!
Even worse we give all kinds of tax breaks for the purchase of an ev!
With all due respect to the revered Asinine Commenter;
I was thrilled when I got my (moderated) EV. Got the rebates, tax breaks (good) and the electric bill rates (not good).
I got a recall notice so I brought it in for the free repair, which took a couple of days.
During that time I noticed my trees seemed greener again. I thought I was nuts and then I had the same dream every night: The trees were complaining to me.
“Why did you stop feeding us until now? Ever since you gave up the Escalade, we are starving for our life force, Carbon Dioxide. What are you trying to do, kill us? Now we can’t give you the oxygen you need so you can only blame yourself. Your wife will not be happy about the honeysuckles and flowers either. Good luck with your “New Green Deal””. Sheesh.
The writer failed to contrast the amount of crashes and fires caused by ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles yearly vs Hybrid and EV’s. He failed to relay pertinent metrics that are key to understanding this topic. Before you write an article, perform due diligence. You clearly know very little about this topic
Care to provide specifics?
Hmmm… did you even read the link to his previous article?