Tesla catching fire

[ChitownRivianFan]

Is this to be expected for all EV's including Rivian? Some brands like GM caught fire while parked in garage as well. So wondering if this should always be back of my mind??


https://www.azcentral.com/story/new...rashing-into-scottsdale-building/69941739007/

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[zipzag]

Consider that tesla sells millions of cars the rate of fires is surprisingly low. Rivian has done a great job of dodging that bullet. To get that reputation early on, even if unfair, could be a company killer.

IIRC GM told Bolt owners to not park in a building. Imagine the harm to Rivian in a similar situation.

 

[Count Orlok]

that is part of the FSD option

 

[SANZC02]

Based on the Monroe battery tear down I think the insulation Rivian uses would help to reduce some of the runaway fires. They compared the Rivian insulation to the Tesla insulation and the Rivian would not continue to burn when the flame was removed.

Inherently the lithium batteries can have a chemical reaction and cause a fire, that is why airlines do not want them in your checked baggage but there are rarely incidents where the EVs catch on fire that are not crash related.

 

[COdogman]

Is this to be expected for all EV's including Rivian? Some brands like GM caught fire while parked in garage as well. So wondering if this should always be back of my mind??


https://www.azcentral.com/story/new...rashing-into-scottsdale-building/69941739007/

Is it possible? Yes. Should you be worried? No.

I drove past a burned out ICE vehicle on the side of the highway a few days ago. It happens on major highways across America every day. It only makes the news if it’s an EV.

So far GM is the only actual recall I’ve heard of for this problem with the Bolt.

 

[Zoidz]

Anything new (i.e. EVs) somehow becomes news. Anything old (i.e. ICE vehicles) is not newsworthy. Yet ICE fires are 50X that of EV fires. Your ICE car has a better chance of burning than your EV. The article analyzes the data and puts it in context.

"The insurance site Auto Insurance EZ compiled sales and accident data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Transportation Safety Board. The site found that hybrid vehicles had the most fires per 100,000 sales at 3474.5. There were 1529.9 fires per 100k for gas vehicles and just 25.1 fires per 100k sales for electric vehicles."

 

[HighVoltOverland]

Good thing gas is inflammable so we are safe from car fires in ICE vehicles!!!

 

[CrazyOne]

Anything new (i.e. EVs) somehow becomes news. Anything old (i.e. ICE vehicles) is not newsworthy. Yet ICE fires are 50X that of EV fires. Your ICE car has a better chance of burning than your EV. The article analyzes the data and puts it in context.

"The insurance site Auto Insurance EZ compiled sales and accident data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Transportation Safety Board. The site found that hybrid vehicles had the most fires per 100,000 sales at 3474.5. There were 1529.9 fires per 100k for gas vehicles and just 25.1 fires per 100k sales for electric vehicles."

Oldest EVs (Nissan Leaf) are about as old as the average car. ICE vehicles are on average much older. Fires on Hyundai/Kia vehicles are well documented.

For fires, BEVs are better while driving. ICE are better when parked in the garage. I installed the charger inside, but next to the door, in case I want to park it outside. Decided this based on a few reports of homes burning down, likely caused by Tesla's not to mention the GM Bolt fiasco. If/when a Rivian vehicles start burning, I will start parking it outside. For now, I have a smoke detector in the garage.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

Anything new (i.e. EVs) somehow becomes news. Anything old (i.e. ICE vehicles) is not newsworthy. Yet ICE fires are 50X that of EV fires. Your ICE car has a better chance of burning than your EV. The article analyzes the data and puts it in context.

"The insurance site Auto Insurance EZ compiled sales and accident data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Transportation Safety Board. The site found that hybrid vehicles had the most fires per 100,000 sales at 3474.5. There were 1529.9 fires per 100k for gas vehicles and just 25.1 fires per 100k sales for electric vehicles."

And from another source, ICE fires are far more frequent than EV fires.

“NTSB data showed that electric cars in the US caught fire at a rate of 25.1 per 100,000 sales compared to 1,530 for ICE vehicles and 3,475 for hybrids.”

https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-article/ev-fires-less-common-but-more-problematic/25749

If you live in any big metro area listen to traffic reports, car fires are crazy common, and when an ICE vehicle catches fire it’s normally totaled because they burn so fast there’s not much left by the time the fire department shows up.

Every crash can be different, but look at the IIHS crash test video on EV’s. They’ve never had a single EV catch fire during testing. For reference the R1T was one of only 23 vehicles that received a Top Safety Pick+ for 2023.

 

[ChitownRivianFan]

Agree, I guess too much news coverage of EV's catching fire is the culprit. Though smoke detector in garage is an excellent idea, I should do it too

 

[bd5400]

Agree, I guess too much news coverage of EV's catching fire is the culprit. Though smoke detector in garage is an excellent idea, I should do it too

Smoke detectors typically don't work well in most garages and are far more likely to give false alarms compared to a smoke detector inside the house. You want a heat detector in a garage.

 

[Riviot]

Smoke detectors typically don't work well in most garages and are far more likely to give false alarms compared to a smoke detector inside the house. You want a heat detector in a garage.

??
@CrazyOne @ChitownRivianFan
Please don't put smoke detectors in there, you'll end up unplugging them or removing. Heat detectors are the way to go.

 

[CrazyOne]

Interesting, will see how it goes. I have CO detector for now. I read that photo electric detectors are good and don't give lot of false positives.

 

[ChitownRivianFan]

thinking of buying something like this...hope this is good enough.

Never heard of Photoelectric smoke detectors...

https://www.amazon.com/Kidde-HD135F...prefix=smoke+and+heat+detector,aps,105&sr=8-5

 

[WSea]

Smoke detectors typically don't work well in most garages and are far more likely to give false alarms compared to a smoke detector inside the house. You want a heat detector in a garage.

Seattle building department (SDCI) is now requiring heat detectors in garages

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