2 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

An EV catching fire might well have no driver or passengers with it, and not be seen by whoever that reports it until well alight. Then maybe no Reg no. that the Emergency Services can check in seconds to see what Drivetrain it might have. Even then there is Mild Hybrids, PHEV,s or BEV,s. If only everything was simple. Maybe an ALARM sounding triggered by the vehicle shouting FIRE FIRE Electric vehicle. Are there many EV fires being reported recently?

None confirmed ones, many reports of car/vehicle fires on local radio and highways dept have reported many on M25 and M11 but not stated what they were so no point posting about them.

The UK Insurers must know the claims and settlements, how many losses, total losses, 3rd party claims as well. Each vehicle class,power / drivetrain. Registered, Sorned, Private or group owned or leased. The DVLA / DVSA / Transport Minister and others certainly should have the Office Fore National Statistics on the case. Or a Westminster Committee should be having it done. Facts and figures and Real Life or death figures for England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland. We know that the Prime Minister always wants 'The facts'. Lets get the fgacts, then he can just Carry on and stay calm. Maybe the Emergency & Fire Service employees unions could get the 'freedom of information ' requests in.

Edited 5 January5 Jan by Evolution13

This is an interesting statistic I found just now on the web.

The ration for petrol/diesel fires does not surprise me, seeing as there are many magnitudes more of them, but the real surprise here is the sheer number of hybrid fires, which have not been around nearly as long as pure ICE cars have, and if the BEV figures are extrapolated, then judging by the hybrids, we could be in for some entertaining times as the BEVs age increases.

Edited 5 January5 Jan by Graham Butcher

Many millions of electrified vehicles around the world and getting older, early produced ones quite old now. We will see what we see and how many are destroyed at sea or on land while sitting or driving around. Charging or not charging. Production of them seems not not have halted and millions around the world are apparently still taking the risk and travelling in them.

Correct, time will indeed reveal everything, it always did. It saw the rise and decline of the first round of BEVs and also steam driven lorries, and the rise to promeince of the diesel being heralded as the fuel of choice against petrol and then it's fall from the spotlight. We will see what the next few years bring.

London fire brigade are getting worried having seen a 39% increase in the number battery fires this year, suggesting as they age, more fires are likely?

? Are the LFB giving the number of Electric cars, vans, busses without including e-bikes, scooters, hover boards etc? EDIT. No! & a 39% increase seems a low figure. 39% increase on a small figure previously. There are lies, damn lies and statistics. What is the population they are responsible for. 8 million. Scotland's population under 6 million. Figures for the increase in Scotland might be worth checking... e-bikes, e-scooter numbers being bought including illegal ones and with dodgy chargers are growing greatly.

Edited 5 January5 Jan by Evolution13

39 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

? Are the LFB giving the number of Electric cars, vans, busses without including e-bikes, scooters, hover boards etc? EDIT. No! & a 39% increase seems a low figure. 39% increase on a small figure previously. There are lies, damn lies and statistics. What is the population they are responsible for. 8 million. Scotland's population under 6 million. Figures for the increase in Scotland might be worth checking... e-bikes, e-scooter numbers being bought including illegal ones and with dodgy chargers are growing greatly.

That's what I said, 39% for all battery fires, as you discovered they don't breakdown the figures. But 39% is i large increase, if that was BEV sales you all would be trumpting it as proof that electric was the future, when in reality sales are around half that percentage figure. If there were 39% increase in ICE fires you all would shouting it from the roof tops, again claiming electric cars are far less likely to catch fire. You have to be fair, the fires are Lithium related and not oil. The only real difference between electric cars and scooters / bikes is one of scale!

2 months at the start of 2025, 57 battery fires. 8 million population. The ICE fires are what they are with the Millions of them there are on the road. Why would there be a increase like 39%. ? It is BEV fires we need the figures for not e-Bikes and e-Scooters being charged in a home quite often. To be fair, you and others need to get a grip and give out accurate figures. Stop the spreading of fear. We are all doomed as it is. Putin, Trump and other Foreign leaders overseas. The figures of Battery Fires for London look pretty low. Only an average of 1 a day in 2024 and an increase of under 50%. blah blah blah. We will see what Jan / Feb 2026 is. More Fire Safety education needed down that London way...

Edited 5 January5 Jan by Evolution13

This is part of the problem, the fire brigades have not been keeping accurate records of precisely what type of car fires that they have been called to, and this is a worldwide problem, as that fireman on StacheD Training mentioned in one of his videos that I linked to sometime ago.

He also mentioned that the fire statistic chart that has been heralded by most of the EV clan as proof that electric cars do not catch fire as often as ICE cars. This selfsame chart has been used as proof of that claim since 2018, that makes those figures 7 years out of date.

Edited 5 January5 Jan by Graham Butcher

On 06/11/2025 at 14:01, Stonekeeper said:

EV and ICE versions same range?

BEV now, plug-in hybrid a bit down the line.

4 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

Many millions of electrified vehicles around the world and getting older, early produced ones quite old now. We will see what we see and how many are destroyed at sea or on land while sitting or driving around. Charging or not charging. Production of them seems not not have halted and millions around the world are apparently still taking the risk and travelling in them.

Those "quite old" electrified vehicles, as you put it, are still comparably young when compared against some of the old ICE cars still in daily use, plus of course all the heritage and classic cars which may only come out for 6 months a year to attend the many classic car rallies and summertime fun drives.

These cars carry signifcantly higher fire risks than cars from the 2000s, as the fuel lines etc. are all aged, and parts have aged and deteriorated far more than those on more modern cars, and also considering that the older cars are far more likely to be using homemade parts for some components, as manufacturers only have an obligation to make parts available for 10 years.

Consider this.

Edited 5 January5 Jan by Graham Butcher

10 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

I see mostly Jaguar EV,s on the hard shoulder or stopped in the middle of no place. What i see quite often is cars stopped with punctures, and more often now they are an EV. I also see Electric Vans being put on the back of a Recovery truck. They could be out of charge in the battery or have a puncture,.

The Jag ipace I saw out of power in a car park was where the owner had thought he had made it and would have if he’d not taken a wrong turn in the car park as less than 20 meters from the chargers.

Guy had no idea where bonnet release etc and to add insult to injury the poor sod had left the lights on so the 12v was so flat it wouldn’t take a charge from a granny charger to get enough to drive to the charger.

36 minutes ago, Monkhai said:

BEV now, plug-in hybrid a bit down the line.

Interesting car and is a genuine step forward with that range, just like the Gen 2 Porsche Taycan, but once again these cars are missing the point when it comes to the driver interface. The digital tech the car has at your fingertips on the central screen is ideal when you're parked up, but to have all of that going on while driving is a major distraction in my view. It would be a real contender in so many ways if the controls were reverted back to switches, buttons and rotary controls, all of which can be operated without having to look at them or navigate through menus, etc. It is, is it not deemed dangerous and carries a hefty fine and penalty points to even hold a mobile phone, let alone use it and yet somehow it seems OK to do complicated controls for various functions on the car via a touch screen. Utter looniness and this is not just because it is an EV, all modern cars, even my Kodiaq, have some controls via the screen.

How long will it be before the DFT decide to ban the operation of controls, thus controlled? Aren't they already considering steps against the interacting with a satnav while driving?

@Graham Butcher We know how many old ICE vehicles there are. So no need for proof. We have our eyesight. Re Jag EV,s. The charge point and getting the flap open is one of their faults. then getting the Charger head unlocked. I was following the one stuck at the charger in Girvan over a long weekend. The driver went away to Preston taking the cars keys and 3 recovery attempts failed because none of the drivers could release the charger head. Then someone took the cable out of the charger and left the cable in the car, but the car was bricked and the car needed lifted as it could not be dragged / slid onto a recovery truck. Eventually a tech from Edinburgh got the cable out, the car open but still it needed lifted on to the vehicle.

Edited 6 January6 Jan by Evolution13

@Graham Butcher Re your 10 years and car parts. It is a Reasonable time in the UK. So 10 years is a reasonable time. But that is not given in the code of practice or a set time. Not that it matters really. But no point giving out the wrong info.

@Evolution13 the reason I showed that is because there as many 30 year old in use and those over 40 years as there are electric. Those are old cars, I serisouly doubt that we will be seeing any electric cars last that long the battery and electronics will have died well before then. I have remote controls about 10 years old that have had their batteries removed and put in storage as the item they were for was also not used, that died while in storage even.

I wonder why couldn't jack the Jag up and pop skates under each wheel to recover it? I have seen that done before on big ICE limousines before and even moved sidewards on them?

The reason was simple. They were not fully aware of what was being recovered, the weight, the no keys and the cable in originally and then as was. I can only say what happened not why it eventually was lifted. As i pointed out with the Corsa, the guy arrived only with sliders and they were not much cope as he worked alone. . I had to block the road and direct traffic that were trying to cross the cable as it lay on the road. At least the Jag would have been a straight pull out backwards. But many recovery do not want to use a rear tie down point. No proper rear recovery point...It was not an Accident damaged vehicle. Even experienced recovery drivers are concerned when jacking up vehicles to put on trolleys, especially EV,s. But good trolleys slkide in and then lift the vehicles with the tyres held and no need to jack the car up. just pump the wheel trolley to have it rolling. PS, lots of vehicles of many types should not be on the roads. Millions with Out of date Air Bags and other safety parts but that is ignored still as long as no warning lights on at MOT,s where mot,s are needed. Rust used to be a major reason for MOT failures. well other than lights with cars maybe just 3 years old. Electrics are a cause of many ICE vehicles being scrapped. # You might expect the likes of these would be standard equipment on any recovery vehicle.

Edited 6 January6 Jan by Evolution13

Agreed, if you are in the recovery business, then you should have at least 2 of those skates if not 4, on board, especially as they also remove the need to locate the actual jacking point on a car, plus some cars should be placed into jack mode before jacking to avoid suspension damage.

4 necessary these days of e-Brakes and not only drive wheels locked possibly all, But just the say it is such with an ICE and a hand brake if you can nit get in the car. BEV,s that are bricked or PHEV,s might be front and rear wheels locked. So skates are just Simply Clever.

Edited 6 January6 Jan by Evolution13

The figures are out, despite all the claims that EVs were flying out the showrooms, they still managed to sell even less than they did in 2024. In 2024 the target was 22%, infact total number of new cars sold last year was 2,020,373 and in 2019 they sold 2,300,000 new cars, meaning that people are hanging onto their old cars longer.

In 2024, the target for EV's was 22% of new cars, but only 19.6% was hit, down 3.4% on the target set by the government and last year the target was supposed to be 28% but only achieved 23.4%, down 4.6%. I wonder just how low that percentage would be if it was not all those forced onto mobility scheme users and cars being pre-registered and then SORN and parked up?

Doomed, all doomed. Never going to catch on. They can just try to encourage more to buy or lease while also discouraging others. Lets see how 2026 goes with more choices and lower priced BEV,s and maybe more getting interested in them. & 3 year old Company cars & Motability ones needing replaced.

I expect there will be plenty orders going in for KIA EV,s and MINI Countryman EV,s this quarter from customers of Motability.

Congratulation to Mercedes for winning European Car of the Year 2026.

The 60 publications vote across the 7 finalists and the all electric Mercedes CLA took the win.

Personally not a fan of its styling but I suspect it is the product of much wind tunnel work as the car has a real work range of over 400 miles at motorway driving speed and base model is under £46k so does not get hit with Expensive car supplementary tax.

CAR Magazine

This year's European Car of the Year is by a brand that h...

This is your 2026 European Car of the Year - the Mercedes CLA

Summary of UK EV sales for 2025. Not quite the half million car target but pretty close.

Tesla did well, so did Audi and the Ford (really a VW) also and the two Skoda EVs too.

Renault not quite on the radar as they managed just under 20k EV sales split across the 4,5, Megane and Scenic but a big increase over last year. Some buyers have orders in for the Renault 5 and 4 + versions as they want to get the bigger £3,750 UK grant version and they are not due for a few weeks yet as the discount only applies to the models getting the locally made battery packs rather than those using the LG Chem made in Korean batteries.....

Edited 10 January10 Jan by lol-lol

Leaving unplugged overnight at -14c