With the stunning debut of Xiaomi YU7, countless car fans were excited and rushed to buy it to be the most handsome guy on the street. However, in the excitement, a safety debate about new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles was staged again.
“Are new energy vehicles less safe than fuel vehicles?”
Data speaks: New energy vehicles are not more prone to accidents. Taking the fire accidents of two vehicles as an example, relevant data statistics on the number of new energy vehicles and the number of fires in China from 2021 to 2023 found that the fire rate of new energy vehicles was 0.96 per 10,000, while the fire rate of fuel vehicles was about 1.5 per 10,000. From the above data, it can be found that new energy vehicles do not catch fire more often than fuel vehicles. So why do people always have the impression of “frequent accidents”? It is related to these two reasons.
01 Causes of fire
●Fuel vehicle fires are mainly caused by aging and leakage of the oil circuit, damage to the oil circuit after collision, etc. After the fire, the burning trend often has a spreading process. Unless the fuel tank or engine and other parts are damaged and exploded, the people on the car generally have enough time to escape;
● The fire of new energy vehicles is mainly caused by thermal runaway of the power battery triggered by damage to the battery pack and water in the battery pack. The thermal runaway of the battery may explode in an instant, and the escape time of the people on the car is short. This is why accidents involving new energy vehicles often cause more casualties and a larger area of disaster.
02 Difficulty in handling accidents
● After a hundred years of development, people are relatively more experienced in fire prevention and handling, so the fire can generally be effectively controlled in the early stages of development;
● The fire of new energy vehicles is often accompanied by chemical reactions, which are not only very easy to reignite, but the chemical components in the battery may also produce high-temperature flames, toxic smoke, and even combustion during the combustion process, causing the fire to continue to expand and be difficult to extinguish.
Is it better to buy a fuel car than a new energy car?
Although in terms of post-disaster handling, cruising range, infrastructure, etc., new energy vehicles are slightly inferior to oil vehicles. However, environmental protection and energy saving, low fuel cost, and more convenient intelligent operation are also significant advantages of new energy vehicles. It can be said that both have their advantages and disadvantages, and we should make rational choices based on actual needs.
Whether it is a fuel vehicle or a new energy vehicle, if you smell gasoline or burnt smell during driving, or hear abnormal noises from the battery pack or engine compartment, you must leave the vehicle immediately and do not hesitate to wait and see.
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