Last Update: July 10, 2010

  1. Electric Car Ownership Economics
    1. Electric cars aren’t too expensive – you can own one for free
    2. Electric vehicle tax credits encourage adoption, help governments reach climate goals
    3. Electric cars drive cheaper, electricity is a cheaper fuel, calculating the cost of any fuel
    4. Electric cars are cheaper to maintain, no oil to change, no gaskets to replace, etc
    5. Saving on refueling time and other time costs associated with the cars
    6. How to calculate electric car cost per mile of range – which EV is more valuable
    7. Calculating effective trip speed – Fast charging cars more valuable
    8. Leasing insulates you against electric car price fluctuations
    9. Driving an electric cars is serenity, what’s “peace of mind” worth to you?
    10. Externalized car ownership costs that tilt the playing field towards gasoline cars
    11. Understanding car cost of ownership – gasoline, diesel, electric, etc
    12. Car cost of ownership models
  2. Altruism – Saving the World at What Cost?
    1. What’s the Cost of Inaction? Fossil fuels keep causing climate change
    2. Jeremy Jackson – Ocean Apocalypse – Naval War College Lecture
    3. Recognizing the future costs of climate change and resource wars
    4. What is it worth to avoid future climate change and environmental catastrophes?
    5. Peak Oil the long-term gasoline price (hint: UP) and electricity price (hint: STABLE)
    6. What’s your share of the cost of the global oil war?
  3. Don’t electric cars freeze up in Winter and become useless?
  4. Freedom from Fossil Fuels
    1. Biofuels – carbon neutral? sustainable?
    2. Environmental benefits of biofuels
    3. Will we get freedom from oil through fuel efficient cars and trucks?
    4. Environmental impact of Fossil Fuels and the Petroleum Industry
  5. Electric cars are safer than gasoline cars
    1. Chevy Volt battery pack fire in 2011
    2. Nissan Leaf car fires
    3. Tesla Model S car fires in 2013 and 2014
    4. Other electric car fires
    5. Lithium battery Flammability

Smart For-Two, while charging, in Wickford, Essex, England, July 2017

Copyright Stephen Huntley, The Daily Mail

(www.dailymail.co.uk) Electric car bursts into flames and burns to the ground after it was left charging overnight 'at a faulty power point' - July 9, 2017 - This fire occurred on a Sunday morning. The Smart For-Two was connected overnight to a charging station. The charging station clearly burned to a crisp, as did the car.

The article says temperatures were over 300 degrees Centigrade. It took two fire crews to extinguish the fire, and pictures show them pouring an immense amount of water on the battery pack. It's clear the car's battery pack caught fire, since burning lithium-ion batteries produce flames that hot.

A spokesman for Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said:

'An electric car which was left on charge outside an office building has been 100 per cent destroyed and caused smoke damage to a building after catching alight. Crews were called to reports of a car fire this morning outside an office building. On arrival firefighters reported that the car was 100 per cent alight and that the building it was parked outside was becoming smoke-logged as a result.'

'By 6.25am firefighters had extinguish the fire, ventilated the building and ensured that the scene was safe. The cause of the fire has been recorded as accidental, and was due to an electrical fault.'

The article clearly says there was an electrical fault. But it isn't clear whether the problem was in the charging equipment or in the car.

Pouring on immense amounts of water; Copyright Stephen Huntley, The Daily Mail
Burnt charging station; Copyright Stephen Huntley, The Daily Mail

Autolib cars, while charging, in Paris, October 2013

(www.plugincars.com) Two Autolib Electric Cars Burn Down in Paris – October 16, 2013 – Two cars in Paris’ car sharing service burned on a Monday morning. One caught fire, with that fire spreading to the next car. The cause is unknown at this time, police are investigating. There is a pattern of vandalism-related car fires in Paris, but this instance doesn’t fit that pattern. Namely, the vandalism typically occurs at night on weekends, not during the day on a weekday in a good neighborhood.

An educated guess might be that because these cars have an unusual lithium-metal-polymer battery pack, that must remain 75 degrees C, and that a failure in that system could have caused the fire. This fire is not the first among the Bolloree Bluecars from the Autolib service, 25 have burned so far.

The takeaway might be that the car fire safety of electric cars depends on choosing battery chemistries that are relatively safe.

About the Author(s)

David Herron : David Herron is a writer and software engineer focusing on the wise use of technology. He is especially interested in clean energy technologies like solar power, wind power, and electric cars. David worked for nearly 30 years in Silicon Valley on software ranging from electronic mail systems, to video streaming, to the Java programming language, and has published several books on Node.js programming and electric vehicles.
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