Fire Incidents Are ~11x Less Frequent for Tesla Cars than the Average Vehicle in the US

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Fire incidents are ~11x lower for Tesla vehicles than the average vehicle in the U.S., which is the result of hard work. The manufacturer continues to improve battery chemistry, cell structure, battery pack structure, and vehicle passive safety in order to decrease fire risk to as close to zero as possible.

We have all come across articles in the media that have covered the fires of electric vehicles (EVs), however, the problem of fire incidents in cars with an internal combustion engine is not so often covered. This is probably due to the fact that the topic of EV fires attracts a lot of attention, which means such articles will receive more clicks. And as such, it has become a game of generating clicks over presenting the full story.

Unfortunately, this creates an opinion among readers that EVs are more at risk of fire, which is completely untrue. The reality is that, compared to Tesla vehicles, ICE vehicles catch fire much more frequently. According to the latest available data, there were almost 173,000 ICE vehicle fires in the U.S. alone in 2020.

According to a new report released by Tesla, the number of fires for its vehicles is about 11 times lower than for the average car in the U.S. From 2012 to 2021, for every 1 billion miles driven, there were approximately five Tesla vehicle fires. By comparison, data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation show that there are 53 ICE vehicle fires for every 1 billion miles driven in the U.S. The difference between the indicators is very significant.

Note that in order to provide a suitable comparison with the NFPA data, the Tesla data set includes vehicle fires caused by structure fires, arson, and other reasons unrelated to the vehicle, which account for some of the Tesla vehicle fires over this time period. Therefore, the actual fires of the manufacturer's vehicles are far fewer.

These results are the result of Tesla's hard work, which continuously is dedicated to improving the safety of its vehicles at all levels. The manufacturer continues to improve battery chemistry, cell structure, battery pack structure, and vehicle passive safety in order to decrease fire risk to as close to zero as possible. With Tesla's technology relentlessly improving, its EVs will be even less likely to catch fire in the future.

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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