Which type of car is more likely to catch fire - electric, petrol, or diesel?

Neither. I think that's perception more than reality. I've certainly not noticed any more reporting of one type than the other.

Vehicle fires are not very common anyway, but more internal-combustion engine vehicles than electric ones catch fire simply by being still the much more numerous form of vehicle.

Most such fires are of private cars, and unless they kill anyone or block a city-centre or umpteen miles of motorway, are unlikely to attract more than local Press interest.

Whether the fuel is petrol or Diesel does not seem to make any difference. Both fuels are highly flammable, but the fires are usually started by electrical faults whose risk rises with the age and general deterioration of the car.


I think fires in electric cars tend to attract more lurid reporting though, because they are fierce, very difficult to extinguish and the vehicles are still a fairly "new" type. "New" only in battery-type, really: there were many battery-powered private cars and small commercial vehicles in use a hundred years ago.

It may also be encouraged in some countries by a vitriolic division among motorists about internal-combustion versus battery-electric; apparently based on an unholy blend of domestic politics, fear of the new, and mere motoring snobbery.

......

There is a type of vehicle fire sometimes seen, in Britain at least, that has nothing to do with the vehicle's condition and everything to do with what it is carrying - or more closely, with what irresponsible people had added to that load.

That is of household waste in refuse-lorries, when some idiot has discarded a battery, perhaps within some electrical device, in the ordinary refuse-bin. As the bins are tipped mechanically into the compactor, and the waste is usually in black plastic bags anyway, the staff might not spot it in time.

There was one such fire recently in my area. Luckily the crew spotted the smoke in time to save the vehicle by tipping the load onto the road! They called the fire brigade while finding the electrcial appliance concerned, and removing it from the rubbish.

Petrol (AKA gasoline) is more likely to catch fire.

It's a tricky question, because there are far more petrol cars on the road than electric, so the raw numbers will show petrol has the most fires. The more important question is fires per mile driven or fires per year ownership. I haven't found definitive numbers for this, but I suspect the answer is petrol. With hybrid cars, you'd need to specify whether the fire began in the battery/electric part of the vehicle or in the gasoline part of the vehicle.

This link says
https://spectrum.ieee.org/lithium-ion-battery-fires

More from the IEEE link:

BTW, the link here attempts to untangle some misinformation that was published earlier https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a40163966/cars-catching-fire-new-york-times-real-statistics/
Apparently a company called AutoInsuranceEZ published some bad data that overestimated something by a factor of 60, and that erroneous estimate is still circulating.

The one parked next to your ex’s house on Valentine's Day.

Petrol I think lol

It is not just the rate at which they catch fire but the damage done when they catch fire. Most gas or diesel cars when they catch fire are still driveable with minimum repairs. Not so the electrics which when they catch fire create a real problem that can burn for days. At least 2 ships have been lost carrying electric cars across the ocean. The ships were lost due to out of control fires cause by the electric cars

This is the kind of data you would Google. Asking a bunch of social media randos is just soliciting opinion, not fact, and there's no telling what is motivating those opinions ...


https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/environment-energy-coordination/climate-matters/EV-less-fire-risk

Electric

Seems that when batteries overheat they ignite, whereas gasoline requires an ignition source. A gasoline tank normally secures the contents from ignition sources whereas a battery has its own ignition within the components.

I am guessing that overheated batteries catch fire more often than fuel leaks.

Tesla?

Electric car fires make the new more often because you cannot extinguish them. Battery thermal cell runaway, producing its own oxygen and it is a fuel source

Wooden car.

wood cars

Tesla for sure

Turns out it’s gas

A Ford Pinto.

Those things really go up like a Christmas tree when tailgated.

I'm waiting for the Tesla batteries to blow up kinda like some of the cell phone batteries!

None.... These accidents don't just happen like that. There's always an external factor involved.

Depends how we stole it

Why are you asking me?

Republicans or Trump supporters.

Are there ICE agents close by arresting illegals? (Variable)

E