KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — The notion that electric vehicles are susceptible to battery fires is a misguided one. Because of their potent energy sources, both fossil-fuelled cars and EVs do succumb to fires every once in a while, but they’re typically very rare. As EVs are more novel, however, any incidents involving them tend to generate a lot of attention, which is why they seem so common.

The same can be seen here. This afternoon, a Mercedes-Benz EQB350 caught fire in Johor, as shown in several viral videos circulating on social media. What makes this incident particularly noteworthy is that it happened right in front of the dealer, Cycle & Carriage Johor Baru in Skudai, apparently while charging at a DC fast charger.

According to Buletin TV3, the fire, which was reported at 2.45pm, engulfed 90 per cent of the car and destroyed 20 per cent of the charging station. We have reached out to an MBM spokesperson, who said that the company could not comment on the matter until an investigation has been conducted. This latest incident is the second high-profile EV fire in Malaysia, following on from another one involving a Tesla Model Y in Puchong in October.

Are EVs actually more susceptible to fires?

There isn’t much information surrounding the incident so far, and anything beyond what has already been reported is simply speculation at this point. However, we can already hear the many people calling EVs unsafe, given that two such fires have made the national news in two months.

But as more data is starting to come to light, it’s been proven that this is simply not true. That’s according to several sources, including Motor Trend, which looked at data coming from the Authority for Social Protection and Preparedness (MSB) in Sweden — its first report specifically tracking EV fires was released this year.

In it, the MSB found that only 29 EVs and 52 hybrids caught fire in the country from 2018 to 2022, equating to an average of 16 every year. Against an average of 3,400 vehicle fires in Sweden each year, that works out to just 1.9 per cent — which means that the other 98.1 per cent were caused by cars with internal combustion engines.

You might think that the small percentage is due to the lower amount of EVs and hybrids on the roads. Well, there are 611,000 of those cars in Sweden, and with an average of 16 fires every year, that means an EV or hybrid has a 1 in 38,000 chance of a fire. Contrast that to the roughly 4.4 million petrol and diesel cars in Sweden — with an average of 3,384 fires a year, that’s a 1 in 1,300 chance of a fire. Put in another way, your ICE car is 29 times more likely to catch fire than an EV or hybrid.

The problem isn’t getting worse as more EVs enter the road, either — after a big jump in incidents from six in 2019 to 20 in 2020, the rate of fires has basically stayed the same, with 24 fires in 2021 and 23 fires in 2022. The MSB also noted that not all fires stemmed from the battery pack, with some starting in other areas but being put out before they reached the batteries.

And of course, you have to remember that ICE vehicles also suffer from electrical fires. Just this year, the new Proton X90 was involved in a spate of fires stemming from a grounding issue — not the 48-volt mild hybrid battery — that led to the car being recalled. So really, the next time you’re worried about an EV catching fire, maybe you should look at the car that’s already on your porch.

Are EV battery fires more difficult to put out?

The one thing that is true is that if a fire does reach the battery, it’s a lot harder to put out. Research conducted by EV FireSafe, a think tank supported by the Australian Department of Defence, suggests that these fires are complicated by something called thermal runaway.

If a battery cell is abused — either by heat, crushing, penetration or overcharging — it may produce chemical reactions that cause more heat and toxic and flammable gases. This can spread to other cells and create a self-sustaining process, and all it takes is the right set of conditions (like a spark) to set the whole thing on fire.

This self-sustenance and much higher temperatures is what makes putting out EV battery fires difficult, requiring much more water (up to 100,000 litres) than an ICE car fire. Jet-like directional flames and debris being projected out of the car pose more risks to firefighters, and even once the fire is put out, the risk of re-ignition is higher due to the thermal runaway not being completely extinguished.

It’s clear, however, that the Fire and Rescue Department has been training to put out EV battery fires, and it’s good to see that, as large as that fire got, the damage to other parts of the dealership were minimised, with Buletin TV3 reporting that only five per cent of the building (likely just the outer cladding) was torched. — SoyaCincau