In my business I see a lot of different fire related claims. I was just looking at a fire involving a dryer outlet (not electric car related at all) and it got me thinking. It's not fair to only compare ICE fires to EV fires because we are missing a key factor, which will make the per capita fires even lower for EV fires compared to ICE fires. We know that both forms of high energy supply (electricity and gas) have inherent fire risks. If we are going to attribute fires in garages or house wiring to electrical cars, then, to be fair, we also need to be looking at gas station fires, if we want to do a true comparison in order to assess risk. So I did just that and here are the statistics:
Facts & figures
It would be good if the press actually does their job the next time there is a Tesla related garage fire, because there will be, and mention these stats when reporting on it (but I'm not holding my breath).
Finally, to the person who said he reconsidered buying a Tesla in the thread about the recent Toronto garage fire (cause still undetermined), I wonder if he thinks twice about refuelling at a gas station given the stats above... just sayin'
Facts & figures
[*=left]An estimated 5,020 fires and explosions occurred at public service stations per year from 2004-2008. That means that, on average, one in every 13 service stations experienced a fire. These 7,400 fires caused an annual average of two civilian deaths, 48 civilian injuries and $20 million in property damage. Service station safety
It would be good if the press actually does their job the next time there is a Tesla related garage fire, because there will be, and mention these stats when reporting on it (but I'm not holding my breath).
Finally, to the person who said he reconsidered buying a Tesla in the thread about the recent Toronto garage fire (cause still undetermined), I wonder if he thinks twice about refuelling at a gas station given the stats above... just sayin'