UK Fires in ev vs ice vehicle per 100000
Executive summary
Electric vehicles (EVs register far fewer fires per 100,000 vehicles sold than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars in the available studies — roughly 25 EV fires per 100,000 versus about 1,530 ICE fires — with hybrids often reported as the highest-risk group at ~3,475 per 100,000; these headline figures come from multiple industry and research summaries [1] [2] [3]. UK-focused commentators and safety bodies echo the same direction — that EVs are less likely to catch fire than petrol or diesel cars — but national-specific per‑100k breakdowns are limited in the supplied reporting [4] [5].
1. Where the commonly quoted per‑100,000 figures come from
The frequently cited ratio of about 25 EV fires per 100,000 vehicles versus ~1,530 ICE fires and ~3,475 for hybrids is reported across a cluster of sources that reference insurance, government and specialist studies and aggregate data from national reports (for example Autoweek summaries, EV FireSafe and insurer-based analyses) [1] [2] [6] [3]. These numbers appear repeatedly in trade and consumer outlets as the best available comparative metric and are used to summarise global or cross‑national evidence rather than a single-country census [7] [5].
2. What the UK evidence says — agreement without exact per‑100k parity
UK organisations and analysts — including Energy Saving Trust and publications like Honest John — state that current research indicates EVs have a considerably lower chance of catching fire than petrol or diesel vehicles, and that EV fires currently make up only a small fraction of total UK vehicle fires (Energy Saving Trust; Honest John) [4] [5]. However, none of the supplied UK sources give a definitive, contemporaneous UK‑only per‑100,000 rate that directly mirrors the 25/1,530 split; instead they report the same international studies and note an overall downward trend in UK vehicle fires while flagging the growing presence of battery‑powered vehicles [8] [4] [5].
3. Why the headline gap is large — mechanisms and reporting effects
Analysts explain the gap by pointing to fundamental differences: ICE vehicles have flammable liquids, heat and more points for fuel leakage or engine‑related ignition, while EV fire causes are dominated by rarer battery thermal‑runaway events [9] [10]. Reporting and detection biases also matter — EV fires attract more media attention when they do occur, and EVs are a newer, growing share of fleets so denominators and ageing effects can skew comparisons over time [6] [11]. Several sources also flag hybrids as an outlier because they combine liquid fuel systems with high‑voltage batteries, which may explain their disproportionately high per‑100k rates in some datasets [2] [1].
4. Operational and safety caveats that change the picture
Even when EV fires are rarer, they can be more complex to extinguish, produce toxic gases and sometimes require large volumes of water or specialised tactics, which raises operational and public‑safety considerations distinct from frequency alone [7] [10]. Studies that aggregate globally or by sales cohorts may not fully account for fleet age, regional maintenance standards, crash rates, or differing definitions of what counts as a vehicle fire — all factors that can materially alter per‑100,000 comparisons [6] [8].
5. Conclusion and what is still missing
The balance of reporting supplied shows a consistent message: EVs appear significantly less likely to catch fire per 100,000 vehicles than ICE cars, with common headline figures of ~25 EV fires vs ~1,530 ICE fires per 100,000 and hybrids higher still [1] [3] [2]. What remains unresolved in the supplied material is a UK‑specific, up‑to‑date per‑100,000 breakdown derived from British fire‑service or motor‑vehicle registries; available UK sources repeat international metrics and note trends without producing a single authoritative UK per‑100k table [4] [5] [8].