the true and the false

Do electric cars catch fire more than others?

FAUX. It is even exactly the opposite: a very serious study by the American organization National Transportation Safety Board found 25 fires per year on 100,000 electric cars, compared to 1,530 for motor cars. classic.

TRUE. There is a media focus on these electric car fires. Social networks are pouring out floods of images and comments on the subject. While a spontaneous fire in a car with a combustion engine is not even noted. Damien Roubineau, new energy and mobility expert at the National Center for Prevention and Protection (CNPP), affirms this. : “you are more likely to suffer a stroke than to have a battery fire on an electric car. Electric car fires take up much more space in news feeds than they actually represent in reality..

Read also: Fatal fire in a Tesla. “No more risk than with a tank full of gasoline”

Are there any specific risks with batteries?

TRUE and FALSE. An electric vehicle battery can catch fire under the effect of a violent shock which seriously damages the battery. But the fire also apparently broke out with a car with a conventional engine. There can also be fires that break out while charging or driving, but these cases are also very rare.

Is putting out a fire on an electric car problematic?

TRUE. Indeed, it is much more difficult to put out a fire than in a classic car. Damien Roubineau explains why. “The batteries are contained in an airtight envelope. Pouring quantities of water does not reach the cells that make up the batteries. This nevertheless allows the battery to cool and ultimately extinguish the fire. On a vehicle with a thermal engine, a fire is extinguished with 500 or even 1,000 liters of water. An electric car requires up to 100,000 liters of water ». Clarification: at Renault, there is a hatch that melts in the event of a fire, which allows the battery pack to be filled with water and the fire to be extinguished very quickly.

Firefighters are not adequately trained

TRUE. And for a simple reason: given the price of electric cars, it is difficult to provide training with life-size exercises to properly teach firefighters the actions.