The International Union of Marine Insurance has completed research to address concerns about the level of danger associated to electric vehicle fires. IUMI has said such fires are not more dangerous than those in traditional vehicles and has published recommendations of best practice for the safe carriage of EVs.

Lars Lange, secretary general of IUMI, said: “Our paper draws on a body of scientific research which demonstrates that fires in battery EVs are not more dangerous than fires in conventional vehicles, nor are they more frequent. Although statistics continue to be gathered, they currently estimate that, in general, there are fewer fires from EVs compared with fires from conventional vehicles when driven over the same distance.”

The research did highlight the fact that the potential for thermal runaway exists for EVs but not for internal combustion engine vehicles and that specific fire mitigation and extinguishing measures were needed to address this issue.

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