[rootusrootus]

> less flammable than today's lithium batteries

If we put aside the politics, what are the actual statistics behind lithium battery fires today? And don't LFP's have negligible fire risk?

I feel like my gasser F250 had a higher risk of spontaneously combusting.

[fatbird]

The problem isn't spontaneous combustion, it's having an accident where the battery is damaged, causing runaway combustion.

No one burned to death inside a Tesla while driving normally. It's always following a crash.

[gambiting]

Unlike in traditional vehicles, most EVs have such a robust firewall between the battery and the passenger compartments you literally have 1+ minute to get out, compared to often seconds in a traditional vehicle.

And I've been following Polish firefighters reports about EV fires and they are very interesting - basically saying that in all recent cases of EV fires they were contained so quickly even the interior was largely undamaged - something that practically never happens with regular cars. Some of these have been in underground garages too, with difficulty of access - but nowadays they just know how to approach an EV fire and containment isn't a problem.

[rootusrootus]

That's a new one. How common are fires after accidents, and what fraction of those burn the car up while someone is trapped inside? I know people occasionally die in regular gasoline vehicles in this exact situation, so is it statistically a higher risk in EVs?

[PunchyHamster]

I'd imagine if tesla stared to burn they wouldn't "drive normally"...