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7 Battery Electric Cars a Day Catch Fire in China: The Most Involved Brands

battery electric cars fire

7 battery electric cars a day catch fire in China: the most involved brands.

In the first quarter of 2022, 680 electric car fires were recorded in China – here’s how and why they occur.

The numbers on electric car fires are inevitably linked to Sales and therefore to the fleet in circulation : we anticipated this in our survey . With the wider spread of electric cars, even at low cost, the numbers of electric cars that catch fire in China are growing.

Manufacturer BYD, the leading electric vehicle manufacturer, is involved in the largest number of episodes, but many other players are no stranger to statistics on electric car fires in China in 2022 . Here’s who it is and why fires occur according to the Beijing Institute of Technology.

ELECTRIC CAR FIRES GROW EXPONENTIALLY IN CHINA

The Tesla fires in China have certainly caused discussion, but the ranking of the most involved brands follows the number of electric car sales.

It must also be said that Tesla and other manufacturers have begun to use lithium iron phosphate batteries, considered among the safest in tests compared to other more popular lithium batteries .

CAR BRANDS MOST INVOLVED IN ELECTRIC CAR FIRES REPORTED BY THE MEDIA

The leading electric vehicle manufacturer in China also produces lithium batteries: BYD is in fourth place with about 9% of the world market share in the production of lithium batteries .

The fires reported by the media in the last two years (but they are certainly partial data considering the data we are talking about above ) have occurred the greatest number of times with the electric cars of the 4 best-selling brands :

  • BYD , 11 fires between 2020 and 2022. The last episode in October 2021 with a BYD Han that caught fire while traveling along the Shenzhen Shuiguan highway. Car sales in February 2022: 88283;
  • Li Cars , 5 fires involving the same model, Li ONE. Car sales in February 2022: 8414;
  • XPeng , 4 fire accidents (3 with G3 and one with P7). Car sales in February 2022: 6225;
  • NIO , only 1 fire. Car sales in February 2022: 6131;

The video below released on the Manufacturer’s channel shows an XPeng G3 that in 2021 catches fire spontaneously while connected to the charging station in China.

The most recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that electric cars circulating in China in 2021 are over 6 million , over a third (36%) of the world’s electrified fleet (BEV + PHEV).

So with very young (and cheap) cars, the fire curve is likely to continue to grow over the years. In the graph below there is instead the ranking of fires by Brand that occurred between 2020 and 2022 , released by the Chinese media and shows that not all electric car fires that actually occur receive the same attention .

WHY ELECTRIC CARS ARE ON FIRE IN CHINA

According to the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), electric cars can catch fire in both summer and winter, but for different causes. The largest number of fires (66%) reported in China occurred from May to September . The 86 fires of electric cars disclosed by the media, occurred in various contexts:

  • when charging the battery, 27.5%;
  • while parking , 38.5%;
  • while driving ;
  • after a collision ;
  • unidentified causes, in 7 episodes.

The BIT attributes a greater likelihood of fire to difficulties in preheating the battery in winter and therefore to overheating when charging electric cars. While in summer the overheating is mainly due to the higher ambient temperature.

According to the researchers, the widespread use of low-cost electric vehicles , on which the manufacturers have built the largest circulating fleet of electric cars in the world, is also a factor that should not be underestimated among the causes of the increase in electric car fires in China.

READ the latest Batteries News shaping the battery market

7 electric cars a day catch fire in China: the most involved brands, June 24, 2022

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