Unlocking the Future of Transportation Electric Vehicles

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<p>This question needs to be asked as a matter of some urgency. But at the same time, there are those who are downplaying the cars catching fire trend. So then, who is right? Manufacturers deny that electric vehicles have an unfortunate tendency to burst into flames, but fire brigades across the world beg to differ. After all, they have to deal with the aftermath. In fact, a group of them have taken to producing an amusing annual calendar with a different Tesla in flames for each month of the year. So frequent are these blazes that the ‘Burning Tesla 2024’ calendar is already full.</p>
<p>Australian group EV FireSafe claims that about 0.0012% of electric passenger vehicles caught fire from 2010 to 2023. While they claim that it was difficult to find similar global statistics for petrol and diesel vehicles, EV Firesafe say they used a range of country reports and found a much higher 0.1% risk of catching fire for those using petrol and diesel. That’s more than 80 times the rate EV Firesafe found for electric vehicles. So then, maybe electrical vehicles are safe after all, and we should all stop driving petrol and diesel cars? What really bothers me about this comparison is that they come to this firm statistical conclusion after conceding that it was difficult to find similar global statistics for petrol and diesel vehicles. And then again, we have those warnings from the Sydney Chief Fire Officer. Should they be discounted?<br />
And then again there is the nagging random factor at play in these electric vehicle fires. Petrol and diesel cars do indeed catch fire on occasion, but usually after they have been in an accident. That is a fact. But electric vehicles have this reputation of just igniting for apparently no reason that people on the spot are aware of. If one sees an electric vehicle in the street, there is no way to know that the battery is damaged or that a fire is about to start. Maybe EV FireSafe’s statistical comparison would have been more valid if it had compared electric vehicle fires with those in petrol and diesel cars which had not suffered an accident.<br />
But let us just consider that when it comes to cars going up in flames, we have been here before. In the 1970s the Ford Motor Company recalled 1.5 million Ford Pinto and Mercury Bobcat cars, to make alterations that would reduce the risk of fuel tank fires if the car were involved in a rear-end accident. The manufacturer’s decision came in the wake of a federal investigation that showed that low moderate-speed rear-end collisions of Pintos had produced massive fuel leaks by puncturing or tearing the fuel tank and separating the filter pipe from the tank. This had led to many fires, and some of them had been fatal. The Pintos and Bobcats were discontinued soon afterwards, and better technology was used in the design of future models. This should be the model template for going forward, and many believe that it is a preferable way of seeking a solution.</p>
<p>As for those Pintos and Bobcats which were modified, the repairs effected by Ford were a replacement of the original fuel-filler pipe and a seal with a longer pipe and an improved seal, and also the installation of a polyethylene shield across the front of the fuel tank. In this way the various necessary steps were taken. However, at the time, consumer activist Ralph Nader termed even these changes as “inadequate technical corrections” and urged the government not to accept Ford’s plan and to rather insist on double-lined fuel tanks and other improved corrections which he suggested. He suspected, probably correctly, that the manufacturer would be seeking the least costly fix for the problem, whereas he was only interested in safety. However, he did admit that the changes “will significantly reduce the possibility that a rear-end collision would cause the fuel-filler pipe to separate from the fuel tank or that the front of the fuel tank would be punctured if pushed against the rear axle.”<br />
All this happened some 45 years ago. But where is the latter-day Ralph Nader? It does not seem as if anyone has stepped into his shoes. Maybe big motor corporations are just so powerful these days that no one can resist them. But surely someone needs to stand up and say that the electric vehicles which they are making are unsafe.<br />
But governments in many countries are pushing ahead with electric vehicles regardless of the fire issue. They are convinced in their own minds, and they wish to convince us as well, that electric vehicles are the latest answer to the climate change problem. The only answer they possess, in fact, as far as motoring is concerned. And it appears to many that they are doing this before they even have an electric vehicle which is safe to have on the roads. In fact, they are removing any other option from us, telling us that after a certain time in the future, we won’t be able to buy petrol or diesel engine cars anymore.<br />
For example, in 2020 the UK government announced that it intended to ban the sale of new cars powered solely by engines that use petrol or diesel fuel in 2030. New plug-in hybrid cars that could travel a ‘significant distance’ on electric power alone would be allowed to remain on sale only until 2035. However, in September 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushed the ban on petrol and diesel cars back to 2035, meaning that there would now be a single deadline and then only new pure-electric cars could be sold after that date. That would bring the UK into line with the planned deadline in the EU and many other foreign markets.<br />
Let us consider that this is now only twelve years away. And let us also look carefully at that description being used. “New pure-electric cars,” is the current government slogan. It sounds so good. Who could resist investing in a new pure-electric car? It even has that advertiser’s special ring to it. It’s a shame about the fire risk, though.<br />
So, after 2035, British and EU motorists won’t have a choice according to the law. But is it right that this is being done in such haste? Granted, at stake is the climate of the world, or so we are told. Burning carbon fuels is adding to climate change, so moving away from vehicles which burn petrol or diesel will help to save the earth’s climate. It will lead us all forward into a brand-new green future. However, there does not appear to be any statement by governments or car manufacturers about the effect on the climate of electric vehicles bursting into flames and producing all that toxic chemical smoke.<br />
This tendency to burst into flames is also leading to an array of other costs which have been largely hidden up till now. Government ministers have been told that electric vehicles pose the kind of risks which could render 1960s era fire safety laws dangerously out of date. Areas of concern addressed included explosions of flammable vapour clouds emitted by electric vehicle batteries, as well as jets of fire and toxic water run-off from firefighting. The report from consultancy Arup suggested that water used to tackle the blazes would be so toxic that it would need to be contained and treated at a special plant before being released into sewage.<br />
The report also recommended changes to fire safety rules and said that there was a “high degree of uncertainty” about data on the fire risks of electric cars being repaired and that it would be prudent to park them at least 15 metres apart in a repair facility in case one of them were to explode and take all the other cars with it. This has all sorts of financial implications for the garage repair industry and the insurance industry as well. If cars must be kept that far apart, new repair facilities will be needed, and of course, all drivers will carry the costs of all this in much higher insurance premiums.<br />
But if cars being repaired need to be parked well apart in this way, then what about a normal car park? Solutions presented in the report included increased space between parked cars as well as greater distance between indoor car parks to manage the risk of fire spreading between cars and buildings. This is easily understandable in the light of what happened at Sydney Airport. The report itself said that indoor and multi-story car parks should adopt larger parking bays to help firefighters reach burning vehicles, with one example in the report proposing a 90cm to 1.2 metre gap between vehicles, although who really knows how far is enough for true safety?<br />
In the light of all these unknown unknowns, why are we pressing ahead regardless with electric vehicles? It seems that saving the planet from climate change has become one of those causes on whose altar everything must be sacrificed. Finances, convenience, safe travel, and even common sense. In fact, the activism towards this never seems to stop for a moment. Statements from investigators about recent fires at both Luton airport, and on board the Fremantle Highway cargo ship have stated very quickly that there was no involvement from electric vehicles. In fact, the very haste with which these statements are issued is enough to build suspicion that inconvenient facts are being suppressed. So then, it’s full steam ahead for the adoption of electric cars.<br />
Except that full steam ahead is a term from the world of shipping. And this is where we encounter yet another electric vehicle snafu. As new cars are transported around the world, they are predominantly carried by cargo ships. But it turns out that transporting electric vehicles by cargo ship is an extremely hazardous affair, as in that unfortunate Fremantle Highway incident. If one vehicle catches fire, and we already know that they are wont to do so, then very soon the whole shipload of cargo is a conflagration. Ships used by auto carriers are traditionally tightly packed with cars in order to carry the maximum load, and so this makes the problem an instant potential catastrophe.<br />
One particularly acute hazard in lithium-ion batteries is a phenomenon known as “thermal runaway.” This is a rapid and unstoppable increase in temperature leading to fires. These are hard to extinguish and not only that, but they can also spontaneously reignite. In addition, the fire extinguishing systems on the massive ships that haul cars were never designed for these much hotter battery fires, and so both shipping companies and regulators are having to scramble to catch up with the new reality of what is happening.<br />
Recent fire-related losses are resulting in increased insurance costs for automakers shipping cargo, and the costs are likely to increase for vessel owners as well. As ship owners seek to limit their losses by legally pursuing automakers whose vehicles are determined to have caused a fire, automakers are also having to buy additional liability protection.<br />
But if we thought that electric cars were a problem, it turns out that electric scooters and electric bikes are even worse, albeit on a smaller scale. This is according to the fire brigade in Sydney, who have had a lot of experience in these matters and have published some of the issues giving them concern. One of the problems is that the batteries used in electric scooters and electric bikes are considered by them to be higher risk, because they are not generally held to the “higher and more rigorous standards” of batteries used in electric cars. So that is not encouraging either. The other major problem is that some people tend to park their electric scooters and electric bikes in their houses, so one can imagine what happens when they ignite.<br />
Now, as if electric vehicles did not pose enough problems in the matter of fires, there is another huge issue which must be faced by anyone who owns one. If we were to drive an electric vehicle, the battery will have to be recharged every so often, and this will depend upon our usage of the car. This is to be expected, but it is far from clear that motorists have understood what this entails. It’s fine at home, of course, one can plug one’s car in and recharge the battery overnight, just as one would recharge one’s phone. However, on the road it can be a different story.<br />
At present it takes me three or four minutes to fill up my car with petrol, and it would be the same for diesel. But if I am low on a charge for my electric vehicle battery, I am going to need some time for this, and the times will vary. Sometimes a full charge can involve waiting at the charge point for several hours. This is not ideal for people for whom a fill up used to be a matter of minutes. Here are the basic times needed to charge up an electric vehicle.<br />
The time it takes to charge an electric car can be as little as 30 minutes or more than 12 hours. This depends on the size of the battery and the speed of the charging point. A typical electric car (60kWh battery) takes just under 8 hours to charge from empty to full, using a 7kW charging point. But most drivers top up charge rather than waiting for their battery to recharge from empty to full. For many electric cars, one can add up to 100 miles of range in about 35 minutes with a 50kW rapid charger.<br />
That is fine as far as charging is concerned, but what if a driver cannot find a charger? Lack of enough charging points is a big problem for the electric vehicle industry at present. Toddington Harper, Chief Executive of Gridserve, one of the UK’s biggest electric vehicle charging companies, said slow connections to the grid meant his company has had to get “creative” when rolling out new power-hungry fast charging stations.<br />
Delays connecting to the electricity grid have forced the company to rely on batteries and even generators to power up vehicles. Now there is an irony to consider. Presumably it is not unknown for these generators to run on petrol or biofuels. That is, on the very things the electric vehicle was designed to avoid. As it is, each time a charge up is done in this way, it will cost more than it would have done by using normal electricity from the grid.<br />
The problem in the UK is that high-power connections to the electricity grid for Gridserve’s chargers are taking years to be approved. This is a ridiculous situation, and it needs some action by the authorities. Either the government wants people to switch over to electric cars, or they don’t. They say that they do, but then people are already making this move without enough full charging apparatus being in place. And another problem is that many motorists have their own stories about pulling up to a charging spot, only to then discover that the actual charger is not working.<br />
All these issues have led to yet another problem, namely motorists becoming irate as they wait for a charging spot. This has been given the rather inelegant title of “charge rage.” The founder of the American rapid charging point company Ecotricity, Dale Vince, admits his company does have some very busy sites and that this can lead to friction. “We do get charge rage if someone ICEs your bay.<br />
ICEs is the rather clumsy electric vehicle driver jargon for when a petrol engine driver, that is an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) driver, has taken up a charging spot for some reason. Obviously, he does not need to use it, but the electric vehicle owner cannot use it either as long as he is parked there. And people don’t like it either if someone parks their electric vehicle for hours and prevents anyone else from getting a charge. The correct etiquette, per Mr. Vince, is that once you are charged up you should move away and allow someone else to be able to use it. But then if life has taught us anything at all, it is that some people have a good knowledge of etiquette, and others do not.<br />
No doubt, the shortage of electric vehicle charge points will be addressed as more and more of them are installed. And any complaints about their shortage will tend to draw people’s attention in such a way that extra effort will be made to provide more and more of them. For now, there may or may not be sufficient charge points in each area, but more and more are being added all the time.<br />
As far as the actual electric vehicles are concerned, they are still much more expensive than conventional petrol models, and so many people will not be changing to electric any time soon, and especially not during these economically difficult times. And there is also that nagging problem about the fires. It appears to be occurring too often for comfort, although it’s maybe one of those things that motorists put out of their minds, just like the possibility of having an accident on the road. But I am sure that even they will be looking forward to the day when batteries can be made less liable to catch on fire.<br />
One last point. With many people now so interested in this move to electric cars, there is still an insufficient debate about where all this electricity is supposed to come from. It must be produced somewhere, and some current power stations are the very worst when it comes to emitting greenhouse gases with the resulting effects on climate change. To those who wish to supply all our electricity from solar and wind, this is simply not happening yet, and it is by no means sure that they can ever supply the energy which comes from normal power stations.<br />
And since green leaning individuals don’t like the alternative of nuclear power, we will likely end up depending upon coal and gas fired power stations to generate the electricity we need for our electric vehicles. So, what will we have achieved at the end of the day? We will have reduced car emissions and increased power station emissions. The risk here is that we are spending billions on a conversion process to electric vehicles which will ultimately yield little or no net benefit. And all the time, the costs may well be running completely out of control, to say nothing about a country full of fire hazards.`);

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<h2>Unlocking the Future of Transportation: Electric Vehicles (EVs)</h2>
<p>About a month ago five cars were destroyed at Sydney Airport after the lithium-ion battery of a luxury electric car ignited, sparking a fire that spread to all the cars parked nearby. Apparently, the battery that sparked the fire had been detached from the luxury car in question, and fire and rescue crews believe it had been removed because it was mechanically damaged. Welcome to the brand-new technologically marvellous world of the electric car. The new technology which will add a whole new meaning to the motoring term “let’s burn some rubber.”</p>
<p>According to a rather depressing report from Sydney’s Chief Fire Officer, this kind of electric car fire is an often-recurring event. “If lithium batteries do suffer mechanical damage or a knock of any sort, they are susceptible to ignite. Our advice to anyone with an electric vehicle that has had a knock, or which is not operating in the way it should, is to get it into a dealership and have the technicians look at it.” Probably he should have added that the car in question should not be parked anywhere near anything flammable like another car, or a house, or a garage or anywhere near the pumps of a petrol station. Come to think of it, maybe any electric car should carry a large warning sign explaining that should anything go wrong with it, it is liable to burst into flames at any given moment.</p>
<p>And these fires are not just any old type of fire. These are triggered and fuelled by an internal chemical reaction that generates and releases a huge amount of heat and, in complete contrast to a conventional fossil fuel car, can continue without a supply of oxygen or indeed a visible flame. Furthermore, the large amount of stored electrical energy presents significant challenges in any attempt to put them out.<br />
This “accident” in the airport car park comes after members of the fire brigade gave out a recent warning that they feared being overwhelmed by an increasing number of battery fires. They are facing a struggle and will surely have to adapt somehow, learning how to deal with such events more efficiently. But instead of simply having the fire brigade reacting to these fires, should there not be an attempt by the authorities and the electric vehicle industry to make these products safer in the first place? In a nutshell, should the electric vehicle industry even be able to sell such dangerous products in this way?<span> And should the authorities be allowing their sale to the unsuspecting public?</span></p>

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<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.financebrokerage.com/unlocking-the-future-of-transportation-electric-vehicles/">Unlocking the Future of Transportation Electric Vehicles</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.financebrokerage.com">FinanceBrokerage</a>.</p>