Compared with fuel vehicles, do new energy vehicles have a higher rate of spontaneous combustion in collisions? How to prevent it in hot weather?

Spontaneous combustion of vehicles has always been a topic of concern for car owners.

Recently, the Hangzhou Highway Traffic Police issued a heartbreaking notice stating that at around 5:43 am on June 5, 2023, a small ordinary passenger car with a Zhejiang A license plate collided with the toll station facilities and caught fire while exiting the Hangzhou toll station along the S2 Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway, killing four people on board.

Pictures circulated online showed that the vehicle was at a toll station at the time of the accident and there were relatively many people around, so there should have been no situation where no one came to rescue and escape. However, all four people in the car died. This shows that after this type of vehicle caught fire, the door could not be opened and the fire spread rapidly and violently, causing casualties.

In addition, there have been many incidents of casualties caused by spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles in recent years. People can't help but ask, when a new energy vehicle spontaneously combusts, doesn't the vehicle give people a chance to escape?

When a new energy vehicle catches fire spontaneously, the owner has no chance of escape?

According to the information currently obtained, the model of the vehicle involved in the accident is Volkswagen ID.4X, which is equipped with NCM811 (nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary lithium battery) system ternary lithium battery, and the battery cells are provided by CATL.

According to reports sent back from the scene of the accident, this type of vehicle began to catch fire within seconds after the collision, and the fire quickly spread to the entire car in just a dozen seconds, leaving the people on board with no time to escape.

Photos of the incident

According to the three mandatory national standards formulated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for new energy vehicles in 2020, it is required that the battery system must not catch fire or explode within 5 minutes after a battery cell has thermal runaway, leaving safe escape time for the occupants.

This is what we commonly call the golden 5-minute escape time. However, this type of car obviously does not have the golden 5-minute escape window, and even does not have the golden 50 seconds. This makes the public once again question the safety of new energy vehicles and start to hesitate between buying new energy vehicles and gasoline vehicles.

Are new energy vehicles more likely to catch fire after a collision than fuel vehicles?

Although the safety of new energy vehicles has been questioned again in this incident, some people have begun to call for more choice of fuel vehicles rather than new energy vehicles, but many people say that the accident was caused by a new energy vehicle, but it was an isolated incident, and new energy vehicles have a lower spontaneous combustion rate and are safer than fuel vehicles.

And they also produced so-called data to prove it. According to the data, by 2023, the number of new energy vehicles in my country will be 15 million, an increase of nearly 5 million in the past year, and the spontaneous combustion rate is 0.72 per 10,000, while the spontaneous combustion rate of fuel vehicles is between 1-2 per 10,000. New energy vehicles are obviously safer.

my country is a major automobile producing country

But in fact, the spontaneous combustion rate of 0.72 per 10,000 new energy vehicles is only the ratio of the number of spontaneous combustions to the total number of new energy vehicles in a single quarter. If the base year is taken, the spontaneous combustion rate of new energy vehicles is close to 3 per 10,000, which is significantly higher than that of fuel vehicles.

The reason for this is that the power system used in new energy vehicles is batteries, and spontaneous combustion is generally caused by high voltage electricity, so it is more likely to occur. Fuel gas vehicles generally have a lower spontaneous combustion rate without open flames. In other words, the use of more batteries and circuits is the reason for the high spontaneous combustion rate of new energy vehicles, while fuel vehicles with relatively simple power are lower than new energy vehicles.

But this is not the most critical issue. The fundamental problem is that new energy vehicles will be the main means of transportation for many people in the future, so how to reduce the spontaneous combustion rate and improve safety is the key.

The consequences of a car spontaneous combustion are very serious

Since fuel vehicles have relatively simple construction principles and fewer circuits, the fire spreads more slowly after a collision and spontaneous combustion, leaving the passengers with more time to escape. However, new energy vehicles have dense fuel cells, so once they spontaneously ignite, the fire will spread very quickly.

Fundamentally speaking, it is because the battery energy supply is insufficient, so the battery can only be made very large. Once the high voltage catches fire, the entire car is like being roasted on fire.

The battery panels of new energy vehicles are mostly installed under the car.

It’s hot in summer, how to prevent vehicle spontaneous combustion?

The probability of a car spontaneously catching fire is extremely low, but there is still a risk. When we drive and use our cars daily, we should pay more attention to the following aspects, which can greatly reduce or even eliminate the risk of a car spontaneously catching fire.

First, you need to check your car more often.

Most of the cars that spontaneously combust are old cars that have been in disrepair for a long time. Cars, like people, need regular "physical examinations" to ensure their "health". This can effectively check for hidden dangers of spontaneous combustion caused by vehicle failures. Generally speaking, new cars in the first three years need to be maintained at least once a year, and cars over four years old need to be maintained twice a year. Cars over seven years old also need to undergo regular large-scale inspections.

Vehicles should be inspected regularly

Second, avoid unreasonable car modifications.

Many car lovers will make various modifications to their cars, such as adding ambient lights, reversing images, seat heating, etc. These additional lines sometimes conflict with the original car lines, which may cause line failures and short circuits, resulting in fire risks.

Some even worse cases involve making major modifications to the entire vehicle, which greatly increases safety risks and is also illegal.

Illegal modifications increase the risk of accidents

Do not place dangerous items in the car.

Many car owners like to place some daily necessities in their cars, such as perfume, lighters, cooling sprays, etc. These items are prone to explosion when the car is hot in the summer, or they may fall and explode when braking at high speed, thus creating the risk of fire and spontaneous combustion in the car. Some car owners place some dangerous items in their cars for work purposes, which is expressly prohibited in the relevant special work processes and should be paid close attention to.

Many everyday objects are susceptible to accidents when exposed to high temperatures

Fourth, try to park your vehicle in a cool place.

Perhaps we all have this experience: in summer, when you open the car door, the temperature inside the car is extremely high, and you need to ventilate it briefly before you can get in. According to calculations, the temperature inside a car can sometimes reach over 50 degrees in summer, and the temperature of the interior is even higher, which greatly increases the safety hazard. For this reason, car owners can reduce the temperature inside the car by not letting their cars directly exposed to the sun or using sunshades and other objects.

Parking your car in the shade can effectively reduce the temperature inside the car

Fifth, drive safely.

The most common cause of accidents such as spontaneous combustion of cars is traffic accidents. Developing good driving habits is the most fundamental way to ensure the safety of vehicle driving and daily use.