Dependent upon a 30x increase in the rate, which is an unlikely number considering that for ICE vehicles the increase from a population of vehicles with an average of 6.5 years (assuming a roughly normal distribution of age for the <13 year population) only increased by 4x to a population of vehicles that had an undetermined average age, but definitively >13 years (minimally a 6.5 year time gap, more likely 10-11 years).
At the time the 25 fires per 100,000 vehicles was established the average age of an EV was 3.5 years. So you'd need a 8x increase in the rate of fires in 3 years to match the 4x increase that ICE experienced to reach that 30x increase, when the rate of fire rate increase for ICE vehicles was primarily attributable to poor maintenance and repairs that is not a norm requirement for EVs.
In other words you would expect the rate of fire increase to be slower than ICE vehicles and it would necessitate a rate of increase that far exceeds ICE vehicles to reach that 30x figure.
If you assumed, generously, a 50% increase in the fire rate from year 3.5 to year 6.5 and then the same 4x increase from year 6.5 to >13 year population, you would need each fire to cause $117,000 in damages to match the risk profile for ICE vehicles. For a population of fires where over half of all fires are on the road, and the risk of fire from charging is dependent upon the rate of charge, i.e. most charging fires are likely to occur while DC fast charging in a parking lot rather than level 2 charging in a garage.
175.50 = .00025*(1.5)*(4) * C
C = $117,000
The reality is that on a population basis, not an individual fire event basis, EVs probably represent a reduction in risk from vehicle fires, but I'll just leave it at they do not represent a significant increase in fire risk relative to ICE vehicles.
At the time the 25 fires per 100,000 vehicles was established the average age of an EV was 3.5 years. So you'd need a 8x increase in the rate of fires in 3 years to match the 4x increase that ICE experienced to reach that 30x increase, when the rate of fire rate increase for ICE vehicles was primarily attributable to poor maintenance and repairs that is not a norm requirement for EVs.
In other words you would expect the rate of fire increase to be slower than ICE vehicles and it would necessitate a rate of increase that far exceeds ICE vehicles to reach that 30x figure.
If you assumed, generously, a 50% increase in the fire rate from year 3.5 to year 6.5 and then the same 4x increase from year 6.5 to >13 year population, you would need each fire to cause $117,000 in damages to match the risk profile for ICE vehicles. For a population of fires where over half of all fires are on the road, and the risk of fire from charging is dependent upon the rate of charge, i.e. most charging fires are likely to occur while DC fast charging in a parking lot rather than level 2 charging in a garage.
175.50 = .00025*(1.5)*(4) * C
C = $117,000
The reality is that on a population basis, not an individual fire event basis, EVs probably represent a reduction in risk from vehicle fires, but I'll just leave it at they do not represent a significant increase in fire risk relative to ICE vehicles.