The EV thread

[ElwoodBlues1]

Followed a brand new BYD EV down the freeway tonight, no tail lights, at first I flashed the headlights thinking they hadn't put he headlights on, but they were on ridiculously bright and blinding.

Cheap but built to a price and refinement in terms of attention to detail and suitability for Aus standards and conditions wouldnt be a major consideration imho.
More Chinese brands on the way too with Geely, Smart(2nd time around), Xpeng and a couple more, cant see some of the well known auto brands surviving.
The USA have really gone hard on tariffs and ways to make it harder for Chinese brands to enter their local car market but we seem to be accepting of anyone willing to supply EV's.

[DJC]

I received an email from my insurance broker today warning of the risk of fire from charging EVs.  It provided a list of common sense measures to follow when charging an EV but you certainly wouldn’t want to park your car in your garage or near your house while it’s charging.

The chance of a lithium battery fire has been a worry of mine since the technology became available but it’s rarely if ever discussed by those promoting EVs.  I wonder if the rapid take up of Chinese EVs by the Australian market prompted my insurance broker to speak out ?

[dodge]

Insurance companies justifying increased premiums.  One group says .0012% chance, another is twice as high at .006%.  This is against 0.1% for ICE.

[ElwoodBlues1]

I received an email from my insurance broker today warning of the risk of fire from charging EVs.  It provided a list of common sense measures to follow when charging an EV but you certainly wouldn’t want to park your car in your garage or near your house while it’s charging.

The chance of a lithium battery fire has been a worry of mine since the technology became available but it’s rarely if ever discussed by those promoting EVs.  I wonder if the rapid take up of Chinese EVs by the Australian market prompted my insurance broker to speak out ?

As Dodge suggested sounds like a good way for insurance companies to cash in on EVs and make some extra money.
Been some horrific stories of EVs setting on fire including in ships that were shipping them and I am surprised there haven't been more I incidents at home where people do home charging and use some unsafe setups. I'm expecting a box to tick in my next home insurance policy that will have to be ticked relating to do you have a EV charger in use and a hefty premium rise accompanying that ticked box. I'm delaying buying an EV as long as possible ...

[Thryleon]

Cheap but built to a price and refinement in terms of attention to detail and suitability for Aus standards and conditions wouldnt be a major consideration imho.
More Chinese brands on the way too with Geely, Smart(2nd time around), Xpeng and a couple more, cant see some of the well known auto brands surviving.
The USA have really gone hard on tariffs and ways to make it harder for Chinese brands to enter their local car market but we seem to be accepting of anyone willing to supply EV's.

the tariff genie is out of the bottle for us.  We rely so heavily on imports that we can't reign that back in now, because they'll just make our import costs too high and then stop buying our stuff in favour of others.

The last couple of years isn't solely about what we've done but what the Chinese did to us too.

[Baggers]

As Dodge suggested sounds like a good way for insurance companies to cash in on EVs and make some extra money.
Been some horrific stories of EVs setting on fire including in ships that were shipping them and I am surprised there haven't been more I incidents at home where people do home charging and use some unsafe setups. I'm expecting a box to tick in my next home insurance policy that will have to be ticked relating to do you have a EV charger in use and a hefty premium rise accompanying that ticked box. I'm delaying buying an EV as long as possible ...

Same boat here, EB1. Not getting an EV until we absolutely must. Meanwhile, we've decided to sell our 'his and hers' cars for one car only... got my eyes on a used, low kms, V8 Lexus (under $40,000).

[ElwoodBlues1]

Same boat here, EB1. Not getting an EV until we absolutely must. Meanwhile, we've decided to sell our 'his and hers' cars for one car only... got my eyes on a used, low kms, V8 Lexus (under $40,000).

Nice choice Baggers, Lexus are a reliable and comfortable car plus they are one of the few that you can put some kms on them and they still hold their value.

[DJC]

Only three of the 456 lithium-ion battery fires Fire and Rescue NSW attended in 2022-2023 involved electric vehicles so there is a relatively low risk. 

I use the insurance broker for my camper trailer insurance.  It has two large conventional batteries and solar panels to enable extended outback stays and many owners of similar camper trailers are replacing the standard batteries with lithium-ion batteries.  The risk of fire with those batteries is considerably higher, particularly with DYI installation and varied charging regimes.

The message from the insurance broker was more about the particular safety risks posed by EV battery fires when managed incorrectly, such as jet-like directional flames at temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius. This presents a risk to adjacent structures or vehicles such as the four other cars destroyed by fire at Sydney airport when the battery was disconnected from a MG ZS EV and subsequently caught fire. 

[northernblue]

I believe there is a slight risk with the lithium ion, majority of ev use a different chemistry.
If you look at the fires per per 100k stats ice are way more risky.
Hybrids are the fire risk of “ev”
The other “ev” fire risk is toys, scooters etc. They get charged via all sorts of dodgy power leads, home installed gpos etc.

Traction battery fires are rare, but shiiteful when started.
The majority of the “ev fires” that the YouTubers promote are nothing of the sort and many are ice fires.
I’m in several ev groups researching and they are good at pulling these sorts of claims apart but as we can see the misinformation they spread is pervasive.

[Macca37]

I believe there is a slight risk with the lithium ion, majority of ev use a different chemistry.
If you look at the fires per per 100k stats ice are way more risky.
Hybrids are the fire risk of “ev”
The other “ev” fire risk is toys, scooters etc. They get charged via all sorts of dodgy power leads, home installed gpos etc.

Traction battery fires are rare, but shiiteful when started.
The majority of the “ev fires” that the YouTubers promote are nothing of the sort and many are ice fires.
I’m in several ev groups researching and they are good at pulling these sorts of claims apart but as we can see the misinformation they spread is pervasive.