Fire risk from electric vehicles (EVs) has been a persistent concern since the early days of modern EVs, fueled by online and mainstream media misinformation.
However, current research indicates that the chance of an electric vehicle catching fire is considerably lower than for an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle which uses petrol or diesel.
- There is only a 0.0012% chance of an EV catching fire, compared to a 0.1% chance of a petrol or diesel vehicle catching fire.
- Between 2010 and 2024, there were 511 fires involving high voltage batteries worldwide.
- The most effective way to put out an EV battery fire is water.
This report provides an overview of current research on EV fire risk. It also includes mitigation measures that councils, car park owners, operators or developers could implement.
We are not fire risk experts. We have provided links to further reading at the end of this report, and to sources throughout. For more information, we recommend contacting the authors of the original work.