Broken electric vehicles need 'quarantining' under government guidelines, driving up the costs for mechanics and insurers
- EV owners face high insurance and repair costs over fears they could explode
- Government say damaged cars must be 'quarantined' 15m from other cars
Electric car owners face soaring insurance and repair costs over fears the vehicles could explode after being in even minor collisions.
Damaged EVs must be 'quarantined' 15 metres apart from other cars in repair shops due to the risk of battery fires under government guidelines – driving up the price for mechanics and insurers.
A lack of suitable repair shops and EV trained mechanics risks increasing costs to the insurance industry by more than £600million, which could be passed on to drivers.
As more battery-powered vehicles take to the road insurers will need to spend an additional £900million per year, adding £20 per year to all car insurance premiums, according to a report by automotive risk firm Thatcham Research.
This is likely to rise to £28 by 2050 when there will be an expected 360,000 EVs on the roads, the report revealed. The batteries in electric vehicles can be extremely sensitive and what might be a harmless blow to a petrol car can write-off an EV. There are also risks when they catch fire as they can burn for days.
Electric car owners face soaring insurance and repair costs over fears the vehicles could explode after being in even minor collisions
Damaged EVs must be 'quarantined' 15 metres apart from other cars in repair shops due to the risk of battery fires
The Daily Mail has launched a campaign calling on ministers to rethink the 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars, which is designed to turbocharge the switch to EVs and aid efforts to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
The report found last year 9,400 EVs were potentially involved in crashes resulting in batteries needing repair, but this could rise to 260,000 by 2035. It said insurers and mechanics need to rapidly adapt to EVs to avoid the risk that the cars are only available to the rich.
- Wealthy male drivers dominate electric car ownership, with women accounting for just one in ten owners, a survey in the UK and EU by EV charging app Bonnet found. The 35-44 age bracket had the highest proportion of EVs at 35 per cent.
The driver started to feel his electric vehicle begin to shake and thought he had a flat tire. But when he stopped to check, he was shocked to find smoke billowing out from under the car. The smoke quickly turned into large flames. It is unclear what started the fire.
Another EV, burnt beyond recognition after it caught fire, forcing firefighters to use 12,000 gallons of water to put it out over a two-hour period.
If it weren't for the car's rims, nobody would able to tell that it was a vehicle. Authorities said that the excessive fire was due to the car's lithium-ion battery
An Australian family's home was destroyed after their EV caught fire
Christy Corder, 41, died after her car crashed into a pole and a tree before it overturned and caught fire, leaving her trapped inside her EV
The electric battery lit on fire after a tree fell on the car, causing the vehicle to burn. Corder was pronounced dead at the scene
A hybrid vehicle erupted into flames after a crash with a non-electric vehicle at an intersection in Logan, south of Brisbane, Australia
There were two motorists inside at the time of the collision, who were able to get out of the crash by themselves
an electric vehicle charger put an entire power pole (pictured) out of service after bursting into flames in the heat
Firefighters used 22,000 litres of water to extinguish an EV that caught on fire while the driver was on a California freeway
The driver was not injured
An EV parked for 3 weeks in a wrecking yard, which had been in a collision, spontaneously erupted in flames due to an issue with the battery
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District firefighters dug a pit and used 4,500 gallons of water to put out the EV's flames
It took firefighters hours to bring this blaze under control (pictured), sparked by an e-bike battery charging in the garage
the blaze erupted after the bike's faulty lithium-ion battery exploded while it was charging overnight
An elderly couple's luxury waterfront home was razed by a fire sparked by a lithium battery (pictured)
Firefighters in Florida are dealing with a new problem in the wake of hurricanes damaging floods - explosive fires caused by waterlogged batteries in electric vehicles.
'There’s a ton of EVs disabled from hurricanes. As their batteries corrode, fires start,' Florida's fire marshal and top financial officer Jimmy Patronis tweeted
inundated by hurricane
EV on fire in Seattle, pictured. Despite appearing to have the fire under control, firefighters wrote in an official report that the flames kept reigniting meaning they had to use a dry chemical extinguisher
EV burst into flames while charging, which left the vehicle completely destroyed
a follow-up photo showing the vehicle completely destroyed
Firefighters work to get a raging EV fire under control
New York City has seen more than 100 fires started by e-bikes this year, due to damaged or faulty batteries.
The FDNY issued a warning recently, after it battled four e-bike fires in just 24 hours. Pictured right is the damage inside the house after the fire was put out
The fire was started by an e-bike that was left in the wall charging
The dramatic uptick in e-bike fires is due to a massive influx of delivery personnel using the battery-powered cycles to zip from one drop off to the next. Pictured are a group of charred e-bikes laying on a Brooklyn street.
Burnt out: A new electric car in Essex was completely destroyed when an electrical fault caused it to catch fire as it was left charging overnight
Damage limitation: Two fire crews fought to extinguish the blaze, which hit temperatures of 300 degrees Celsius, in the early hours of the morning
Water jets: Two fire crews used hoses to extinguish the blaze, which hit temperatures of 300 degrees Celsius
100 per cent ruined: 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'
Horrifying moment a fleet of new electric SUVs erupted into flames on the M1
the electric SUVs sell for more than £66,000 each
at least four of the new electric vehicles on a car transporter were engulfed by a raging inferno
Large smoke plumed as traffic came to a standstill
By 8pm officials had recovered all the vehicles from the transporter and a convoy removed them from the road.
EV caught fire and caused $1million worth of damage to a home in San Ramon, California
Their two EVs were destroyed, as were two bedrooms, an office and an upstairs bathroom
A three-month old EV caught fire three times in a day - as firefighters used 2000 gallons of water to douse the flames
Pictured: The car in flames as the northern Californian driver said the car was the last EV his family would buy
Doused: Crews used 2000 gallons of water to battle the blaze
an electric vehicle caught fire on a highway in China. The blue sedan was parked in the middle of the right lane with flames shooting out from underneath
A parked EV goes up in flames in Ukraine.
The destroyed EV is seen above in Ukraine in September 2019
The owner of an EV told NHTSA that the car was driven to a townhouse development with a private parking lot in Vienna, Virginia. Twenty minutes after arriving, a neighbor rang the doorbell and reported white smoke coming from the back of the EV
The fire in Virginia caused significant damage to the interior of the electric car
the damaged interior of a burnt EV in Miami
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