Electric, Hybrid and Alternative fuelled vehicles - News and Discussion

[black and decker boy]

1 minute ago, BR traction instructor said:

Surely there is room for various simultaneous technologies to wean us off burning fossil fuels. There are numerous types of vehicle on our roads each with differing tasks to perform and a greater number of personalities requiring different things from their vehicle. One example for us was the major leg surgery required for my girlfriend, causing her to misuse the clutch in her conventional diesel Corsa because of the pain. She was against an automatic replacement, therefore our decision to stretch for the ID3 was partially made for us. It has been the best outcome that she could have hoped for.

 

BeRTIe

Indeed. Nothing against hydrogen but it’s not currently available at scale in U.K. 

 

For a capacity constrained electricity supply, domestic hydrogen production for domestic car use is way worse than EVs.

 

for heavier machinery, hydrogen may well be the answer in the medium term (no models currently in mass production and only a few global supplies of green hydrogen exist) so hopefully the JCB prototypes prove a success. Even in NRMM markets, EVs are succeeding (and on the market now) for the smaller sizes of plant.

 

Aviation and deep sea shipping are harder ones to crack and aviation looks set to use the sustainable liquid fuels (so direct competition to any potential domestic car market).

 

I drive a Tesla for 3 reasons (in order of importance):

1) it’s very tax efficient so I’m a lot better off than driving an ICE 

2) cost per mile is significantly better than many ICE I’ve had (running cost 6p/mile)

3) it’s zero emissions at point of use so my son loves it

4) it’s a great, fun, car to drive.

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, BR traction instructor said:

Surely there is room for various simultaneous technologies to wean us off burning fossil fuels. 

Don't be silly, this is the Internet! Don't you know that technology X is the only possible solution to all our problems and everything else is terrible and useless...😉

[zarniwhoop]

I saw when looking at news reports on my phone that a Tesla parked at the kerbside in Islington apparently self-combusted. It was in the Daily Fail so I won't link to it.

[Suzie]

Best not to leave anything that is irreplaceable in an electric vehicle when unattended. The likelyhood of fire is pretty low, but it is quite random when compared to faulty petrol cars.

[Ron Ron Ron]

The Vauxhall / Opel Zaphira MPV and the Renault  Espace, were infamous for “spontaneously combusting”, at a much higher rate than was usual for other cars.

Even today, the number (and ratio) of ICE car fires, is higher than that for EV’s.

 

Battery tech is now moving away from the more volatile chemical compositions that have been used over the last decade, with the risk of  thermal runaway and spontaneous ignition being reduced or eliminated.

BYD demonstrate that one of their new batteries ( already being installed  in current production cars) can be punctured without causing any issues.

 

File under FUD.

 

 

 

.

 

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Suzie said:

Best not to leave anything that is irreplaceable in an electric vehicle when unattended. The likelyhood of fire is pretty low, but it is quite random when compared to faulty petrol cars.

Best not to leave anything irreplaceable in ANY car unattended. The likelyhood of fire is pretty low, the likelyhood of theft however...

[Ian Morgan]

US insurance data from last year:

 

 

https://thedriven.io/2022/01/11/evs-have-extremely-low-chance-of-catching-fire-but-hybrids-more-risky-data-shows/

 

So a pure petrol car is about 60 times more likely to catch fire than a pure EV car.

 

Hybrids are a bit worrying though.

 

 

[Hobby]

And the chances of your car catching fire is even lower, I suspect most car fires are due to poor servicing/workmanship on modifications. Even the well publicised ones like the Vauxhall (?) ones recently only a very small number of cars actually went up in flames... Social Media and 24 hour news has a lot to answer for for exaggerating the risks.

[APOLLO]

[idd15]

In order to try and counter the rising levels of misinformation and FUD in the media the Fully Charged Show and the FairCharge organisation are coming together to  combat this '*fear, uncertainty and doubt' through *fast-turnaround infographic rebuttals*, *proactively placing spokespeople on mainstream media*, and *engaging with political influencers*'.

 

More information is available in this YouTube video they have put together. 

 

Who is trying to kill the electric car?

 

Whether the strategy works or not remains to be seen, but at least somebody is trying...

 

cheers

 

idd

[idd15]

Thought this Fully Charged Tamiya(!) EV vid would appeal to people, especially as modellers we all love a good sticker/decal sheet! 

 

Enjoy! 🙂

Cheers

idd

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Hobby said:

And the chances of your car catching fire is even lower, I suspect most car fires are due to poor servicing/workmanship on modifications. Even the well publicised ones like the Vauxhall (?) ones recently only a very small number of cars actually went up in flames... Social Media and 24 hour news has a lot to answer for for exaggerating the risks.

 

The media jump all over any EV fire.

But to get an ICE fire in the paper it has to be an actual gold plated Lamborghini.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/25/gold-plated-lamborghini-goes-up-in-flames-an-hour-after-being-picked-up-8743091/

 

[johnofwessex]

On 17/07/2023 at 21:04, 30801 said:

 

The media jump all over any EV fire.

But to get an ICE fire in the paper it has to be an actual gold plated Lamborghini.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/25/gold-plated-lamborghini-goes-up-in-flames-an-hour-after-being-picked-up-8743091/

 

 

There is a God!

[Hroth]

On 17/07/2023 at 21:04, 30801 said:

 

The media jump all over any EV fire.

But to get an ICE fire in the paper it has to be an actual gold plated Lamborghini.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/25/gold-plated-lamborghini-goes-up-in-flames-an-hour-after-being-picked-up-8743091/

 

 

Couldn't have happened to a nicer car!

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

On 17/07/2023 at 11:24, Hobby said:

.....Even the well publicised ones like the Vauxhall (?) ones recently only a very small number of cars actually went up in flames... Social Media and 24 hour news has a lot to answer for for exaggerating the risks.

 

There were more than 200 Zaphiras that caught fire in the UK alone, due to faults.

IIRC, the owners group claim about 300.

A parliamentary committee investigated throughout the ongoing saga and issued several reports.

Three recalls took place over a period of several years, but the fires kept occurring, even on some recalled and inspected cars.

The London Fire Brigade alone, reported attending 120 fires involving Zaphiras before the first recall was issued.

 

 

.

 

[Hobby]

Against a total sold well into the tens of thousands (well less than 1%). So as I said the chances of your car, even a Zafira(!), setting on fire, is still extremely low. 

 

The issue with EV fires, even if they are rare (like IC car fires) is that they have to be handled differently. IC car fires are a known entity, so far EV ones aren't because they are even rarer as there's less EVs around.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Hobby

[Jol Wilkinson]

As is usually the case, getting consistent ,accurate information on such issues through the internet isn't straightforward  The interested parties, scandal mongers, armchair experts  and politicians.will always quote whichever statistics supports their arguments.

[johnofwessex]

It seems to me that it would make sense for Fire Brigades to report certain sorts of fires eg vehicle including model & year so there coukld be reliable statistics and risks should be identified

[Ian Morgan]

5 hours ago, johnofwessex said:

It seems to me that it would make sense for Fire Brigades to report certain sorts of fires eg vehicle including model & year so there coukld be reliable statistics and risks should be identified

 

I imagine the insurance companies already do this.

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

As it is some years since i retired from the car industry I can't recall the procedure that existed at the time. However, this may be of interest,

 

Vehicle safety defects and recalls: code of practice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-on-vehicle-safety-defects-and-recalls/vehicle-safety-defects-and-recalls-code-of-practice

Edited July 20, 2023 by Jol Wilkinson
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[black and decker boy]

Absolutely terrible, these new fangled diesel buses are a total danger 😜

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-66284479

 

* tongue in cheek before someone decides electric buses are a threat to life 

Edited July 23, 2023 by black and decker boy
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[Jol Wilkinson]

BBC online news article today.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66222554

 

[Ian Morgan]

46 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

BBC online news article today.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66222554

 

 

Overall, a reasonably fair and balanced report, but with enough of the scare phrases (often highlighted because they are links) to add fuel to the nay-sayers arguments.

 

 

[melmerby]

Ship fire possibly caused by electric car:

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/one-dead-cargo-ship-fire-electric-car-suspected-source-dutch-coastguard-2023-07-26/

[admiles]

The problem with EVs and catching fire isn't that they catch fire more than ICE vehicles it's that the fires spread quicker are much more intense and a lot harder to put out. 

 

I'm involved in shipping cars and several of the Ro/Ro operators won't accept EVs for shipment and those that do charge a much higher freight rate. There are good reasons for that - higher risk!

Edited July 26, 2023 by admiles
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