I’m personally not parking next to a Tesla ever again..

Just flat tow behind a truck like TheStraightPipes did.

 

I don't know if that's a good idea even if the car will go into neutral.

I saw a Mini Cooper Clubman being flat towed behind a motor home. I gues that's ok if it's a FWD manual. I still don't know about doing that at highway speeds.

 

TLDR - Tesla fires on average happen for every 205 million miles driven. Ice fires come every 19 million miles driven. In the past 8 years there have been 63 Tesla fires reported vs 2,000,000 ICE fires.

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. What's really too bad is how math is taught. Statistics can be a useful tool, but you do have to know how to use them. Kind of like a power saw, you can build a beautiful house or cut your hand off. It just depends on the skill of the user and/or their desire to misrepresent and deceive. The reason EV fires are news is because they are so incredibly rare. As you hint Teslas represent about 2% of the cars and are 10 time LESS likely to burn, so when it happens it is like winning the lottery. It's hard to find numbers but I did find a site that tracks reported Tesla fires and from 2013 - 2021 there have been 63 Tesla fires reported in the news. In that same time period there have been about 2 million ICE car fires. Another way to look at it is for every Tesla fire, 31,000 ICE cars burn. (It's probably higher than that because I'm using 2 million ICE fires in the US vs 63 Tesla fires world wide.)

No fires, ICE or EV are OK. EV fires are harder to extinguish. Are EV fires something to worry about, no.


links, because without documentation it didn't happen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicle_fire_incidents
https://www.tesla-fire.com/
https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/#causes
https://insideevs.com/news/501729/number-tesla-vehicle-fires-2020/

 

Out of how many tesla's and EV's sold? Not just vehicles that caught fire in general. If the ratio to tesla's sold that end up catching fire no matter the cause is higher than the millions of normal vehicles sold that catch fire, then that's all that matters. I don't believe they make the news because they are rare, more because the extent of them and why they happen. I'm personally not concerned with the fires, and I agree, nothing to worry about in general. But the rest of the issue with maintenance on these fancy electric vehicles and the cost far outweigh the cost of maintenance on a normal vehicle. All I'm saying is when one of these catch fire it's news because of why, not that it's rare.

TBH, I am more interested in the stuff not "reported". Like how many people end up not shelling out the thousands of dollars for repairs on these things for basic stuff. Like thousands of dollars to replace headlights... Even our Tacoma's have gone the route of having super expensive headlights. But they are easily replaceable at least.

All I care about is at least we are on the right path. But right now, people buying into this tech are shouting from a caboose and the conductor doesn't even know they exist. I hope the technology improves and becomes cheaper, but given the way the market and world economy is looking, somehow, it's getting more expensive.

I dunno, call me when F1, Nascar, NASA, and airplanes start using it. When a rocket stops using more fuel than an entire nation does in a year, then I'll be interested.

 

Cool, you fail to account for how short an Amount of time electric vehicles have been on the market versus how long internal combustion vehicles have been on the market. There’s60+ years of combustion cars on the roads and almost exclusively fossil fueled trucks, Notice how the site you found starts tracking electrical vehicle fires beginning in 2013. Electric vehicles are in large part simply commuter cars and some SUVs.

 

I could google all EVs that for you, but since everyone is hating on Tesla their numbers are easier to find. In the total life time of Tesla they have sold 1.9 million cars, and let's round up to say 100 total have burned. In the same period 80 million ICE cars have been sold and 2 million of them have burned. A few seconds with a calculator shows that .01% of all teslas ever sold have burned vs 2.5% of ICE cars.

As far as maintenance on EVs I'm not sure what you're talking about. EVs are vastly simpler from a mechanical point of view than ICE cars. There are no oil changes or tune ups. So what maintenance does an EV need that an ICE car doesn't? (don't say batteries. Battery tech has vastly improved.)

So Tesla's and Tacomas' have expensive headlights. I think the bigger point you are making is that modern cars suck when it comes to repair. I completely and 100% agree with you. But, it's not just cars, pretty much everything is designed to be thrown away at the slightest glitch. There is a "right to repair" movement that is trying to gain footing to force manufactures to allow owners to fix the things they own. We'll see how that goes I support them fully.

I think the conductor is hearing what the people want very well. Hyundai is closing it ICE development group to focus on EV engineering. All of the major auto makers are working on EV's. I'm pretty sure they all have some high powered analysts and accountants saying the need to do this.

Ring, ring - F1 cars are hybrids now. Nascar is dying and can't get or keep sponsors, but I doubt that's because of their engines. NASA is pretty big into solar power. And there are some prototype electric airplanes. Battery tech needs to improve though before electric airplanes are viable. The problem with all of those arguments is it says that if a technology isn't good for everything, it's good for nothing. In my opinion EVs are viable for a lot of people. If you're not one of those people, don't buy an EV.

If you've got better numbers, post them with links.


Oh and links because without documentation it didn't happen.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/199974/us-car-sales-since-1951/
https://backlinko.com/tesla-stats
https://www.compare.com/electric-cars/guides/how-long-does-a-tesla-battery-last

 

I stopped reading at "battery tech has improved".

 

remember this?
https://jalopnik.com/best-of-2021-jeep-wrangler-engine-explodes-after-owner-1846493328

 

ITT we see who has nothing to do but sit at their desk at night googling facts to argue over the internet. It's like grade 4 all over again.

 

Wait... do you have a link to prove that it was posted at night time? These timestamps can be misleading...

Honestly though, nothing out of the ordinary here. Admittedly, I did click the links and instantly found my face wresting on my palm.

 

I would but my dad wakes up when I loose the connection and have to dial it back up so he sent me to bed and I lost the link

 

https://www.motorious.com/articles/news/blows-up-tesla/

 

Are you buying an EV?

 

Details in sig.

 

Doesn't say

 

Im not against Teslas or other EVs, just wish we had better capabilities to extinguish fires in EVs outside of throwing thousands of gallons of water at them. There are quite a few on the road in my area, but since we’re a rural area with limited water access, it’s not like we can hook up to a hydrant if one catches fire. We typically only have what we bring with us. And no our tanker does not have wings. Wish it did, might be able to get up hills quicker.

 

Still using those old NiCad batteries in your drill?

 

No but the ones I do use I can replace myself... Just sayin...

 

So do you ever intend to own an EV?

 

For the sake of whatever you are trying to prove, sure, why not? I'll buy into what you are attempting to sell me... Speak freely.