Korean consumers are fired up in their growing opposition to EVs in the wake of a massive fire in Incheon last week, but the prejudice is statistically baseless.
For example, if 1.3/10,000 EVs catch fire spontaneously while the 1.9/10,000 ICE cars only caught fire after serious accidents, I could see why folks might make that decision.
I don’t know. But as an EV enthusiast, I hope that there will be more research on this topic. I feel that the perceived risk of burnibg is holding EVs back.
It’s not a problem exclusive to Korea. In the United States, EVs have a 0.03 percent rate of catching fire, while internal combustion engine cars have a 1.5 percent rate, according to the latest report by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
And then there is the problem with existing data. How can the US numbers be so different than the Korean numbers?
What about different battery technologies? Different cell chemistries? Is this one chinese manufacurer really at fault or is this just a wrong interpretation?
So many questions, I can only hope we know more soon.
Just to normalize numbers, if my math is right in the US that’s:
EVs 3/10,000
ICE 150/10,000 (😱)
I’m really uninformed so this is just coming from a Joe-consumer perspective but I would guess EVs catching fire at double the rate in the US vs Korea must be manufacturer related, right? I’d guess the US is mostly Tesla and Korea is mostly BYD?
Do the fires occur under the same circumstances?
For example, if 1.3/10,000 EVs catch fire spontaneously while the 1.9/10,000 ICE cars only caught fire after serious accidents, I could see why folks might make that decision.
I don’t know. But as an EV enthusiast, I hope that there will be more research on this topic. I feel that the perceived risk of burnibg is holding EVs back.
And then there is the problem with existing data. How can the US numbers be so different than the Korean numbers?
What about different battery technologies? Different cell chemistries? Is this one chinese manufacurer really at fault or is this just a wrong interpretation?
So many questions, I can only hope we know more soon.
Just to normalize numbers, if my math is right in the US that’s:
I’m really uninformed so this is just coming from a Joe-consumer perspective but I would guess EVs catching fire at double the rate in the US vs Korea must be manufacturer related, right? I’d guess the US is mostly Tesla and Korea is mostly BYD?
Car and/or battery manufacturer would be my guess, too.
Korea probably has many Hyundai/Kia cars … but thats just guessing.