Salary sacrifice specialist Tusker has analysed data from its fleet of more than 30,000 electric vehicles (EVs) to understand if there is any truth behind some of the commonly shared myths surrounding them.
The Lloyds-owned business claims that misinformation is being spread widely on social media and even being published by national newspapers.
One of the most commonly shared electric vehicles myths is that they regularly catch fire. While it’s no secret that EV fires present an increased danger once the battery starts burning, Tusker’s data proves that the likelihood of an EV catching fire is significantly less than that of a petrol or diesel car.
In fact, the company’s insurance records show that not a single one of the EVs on its fleet have caught fire.
Acknowledging that some fires are inevitable – not least due to arson, which is the cause of around 65% of car fires each year – Tusker’s managing director Kit Wisdom told Fleet News: “We had two or three fires because somebody was smoking carelessly in a vehicle. Another one resulted out of the Luton Airport Blaze, one of our vehicles was parked there and that was destroyed as a result of that.
“But this is the normal occurrence of fire than you would expect. Nothing has been caused, at least from our data, as a result of any issue with an electric vehicle.”
A study by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency backs up Tusker’s findings.
Read more: FleetNews