As interest appears to be increasing for electric vehicles in Ontario, concern is also speeding up over whether electric cars, trucks and SUVs pose any sort of a serious fire hazard.
The issue has been studied in depth by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board which said several risks occur in EV fires that do not occur in conventional combustion vehicles. A video produced by NTSB reported an incident where an EV crashed into a house creating a massive fire. At first firefighters poured thousands of gallons of water onto the roof of the car without realizing that water needed to be applied to the bottom of the vehicle, to cool the drive battery. There was also an incident where an EV was towed from a fire scene and then the car‘s drive battery re-ignited several days later while sitting in the towing yard.
The statement added that training for EV fires will likely raise the need for "additional resources.”