There are scenarios where this is reasonable. If cars are parked below housing units. The risk of fire from the electric battery that can’t be controlled, might be too great for their insurance carrier.
Maybe if it were 2009 lol. EVs don’t randomly catch fire anymore. Even if it were true, with what Toronto landlords charge, they can afford an insurance bump.
I’m a fan of EV’s but I was surprised when I read this in the article:
Toronto Fire Services (TFS) told CBC Toronto that it has responded to 47 fires involving lithium ion batteries this year, 10 of which took place in residential high-rises.
‘involving’ is a weasel word. If a building is on fire and a battery catches fire and makes it worse, that’s ‘involving’. But that doesn’t mean the battery is to blame. It’s just another accelerant.
Toronto Fire Services (TFS) told CBC Toronto that it has responded to 47 fires involving lithium ion batteries this year, 10 of which took place in residential high-rises.
Without clarification that this is specifically related to EVs, this statistic is worthless. I have 7 different devices involving lithium-ion batteries in front of me right now, and none of them are vehicles.
The remaining fire risk/safety issues tend to be with dodgy cheap batteries used as replacements in ebikes and the like, and there are ways to mitigate even those risks (fireproof charging lockers, anyone?). Electric cars are much more heavily safety-tested, and I would say that at this point in their evolution they’re no more likely to catch fire spontaneously than an ICE car.
Plus, some of those parking spaces are probably reserved for visitors, right? You think they’re going to go out and rent an ICE car just to visit this place? There will be EVs on the premises anyway, as they gain market share in general.
There are scenarios where this is reasonable. If cars are parked below housing units. The risk of fire from the electric battery that can’t be controlled, might be too great for their insurance carrier.
Maybe if it were 2009 lol. EVs don’t randomly catch fire anymore. Even if it were true, with what Toronto landlords charge, they can afford an insurance bump.
You mean Canadian landlords. I pay more for a town house in London Ontario than most people in Toronto 😂. Canada is fucked.
Ah, a fellow victim of the London housing market. Shame how the only thing less than 450k is a literal burned out crack den.
And after paying all that money you still have to live in London 😔
Hey, I moved from Winnipeg, could be waaaaaay worse
I’m a fan of EV’s but I was surprised when I read this in the article:
‘involving’ is a weasel word. If a building is on fire and a battery catches fire and makes it worse, that’s ‘involving’. But that doesn’t mean the battery is to blame. It’s just another accelerant.
Is this not a tiny, super fraction of a number? The average household probably has 10x lithium batteries around in various things.
Yeah literally everyone’s phone, and pretty much any wireless speaker or rechargable anything. Vapes, computer accessories, anything.
Without clarification that this is specifically related to EVs, this statistic is worthless. I have 7 different devices involving lithium-ion batteries in front of me right now, and none of them are vehicles.
The remaining fire risk/safety issues tend to be with dodgy cheap batteries used as replacements in ebikes and the like, and there are ways to mitigate even those risks (fireproof charging lockers, anyone?). Electric cars are much more heavily safety-tested, and I would say that at this point in their evolution they’re no more likely to catch fire spontaneously than an ICE car.
Plus, some of those parking spaces are probably reserved for visitors, right? You think they’re going to go out and rent an ICE car just to visit this place? There will be EVs on the premises anyway, as they gain market share in general.
Right! We should stick to safe, non-flamable gasoline like god intended.
Battery fires burn much hotter than gasoline, and are much harder to put out.
Car battery fires use something like 10x the water to put out and take longer to put out.
Car batteries are great, until they are on fire
Because you don’t put out metal fires with water. Powdered salt is supposed to be used to smother class D fires.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tp0FFY4oBsg
if you have the salt, sure