How Many EV Fires in 2024-2025 [Top Statistics]

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The global transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is reshaping the way we think about transportation. EVs promise sustainability and innovation, but they also come with unique challenges, especially when it comes to fire safety. For fire investigators, EV fires are still a growing field of study, with complexities far beyond those of traditional vehicle fires.

How many EV fires were reported in 2024 and 2025? What caused them, and what lessons can fire investigators learn from the data? In this guide, we’ll take a look at what the data says so you can get the insights you need to shape how you approach EV fire incidents.

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Electric vehicle fire data from 2024–2025 continues to cut through the noise. Globally, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) experience roughly 25 fires per 100,000 vehicles sold, translating to a ~0.025% fire rate. Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles sit near 1,530 fires per 100,000, while hybrids spike to ~3,475 per 100,000, making them the highest-risk category. 

EVs now represent about one quarter of new global car sales, yet account for a single-digit share of total vehicle fires in mature markets. Where EV fires do occur, they are longer-lasting and more complex to manage, often requiring extended cooling and monitoring to prevent reignition. The takeaway is blunt: EV fires are rarer, not gentler.

Fire Incidents by Vehicle Type (2024–2025)

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EVs catch fire way less often than traditional cars, and hybrids have the highest relative likelihood of fire. EV fire rates are tiny on a percentage basis, but when they do happen, they’re operationally complex (longer burn times and harder suppression).

By the end of 2023, the global EV fleet reached ~40 million vehicles, with 14 million new registrations that year alone. Growth accelerated through 2024 and is projected to hit ~22 million annual sales in 2025, pushing the total fleet toward ~80 million vehicles. Electrification is no longer limited to passenger cars. Electric buses and heavy-duty trucks expanded rapidly, carrying battery packs many times larger than those in cars and concentrating energy density in urban and logistics settings. This shift changes the risk profile less by increasing fire frequency and more by raising consequence severity when failures occur. Aging fleets, high-utilization duty cycles, and infrastructure stress are now the dominant variables shaping EV fire risk.

Here is the updated data for the 2024–2025 period based on reports from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and BloombergNEF:

Global Sales & Fleet Size (2024–2025)

By the end of 2025, the total number of electric vehicles on the road has nearly doubled from your 2023 figure.

• 2024 Sales: Global sales reached 17 million units, a 25% increase over 2023.
• 2025 Sales (Projected/Finalizing): Sales are estimated to exceed 20–22 million units.
• Total Global Fleet: By the end of 2025, there are approximately 80–85 million electric vehicles (including cars, buses, and trucks) in use worldwide.

Regional Performance: A Story of "Three Speeds"

Key Market Shifts (2024–2025)

1. The "Leapfrog" in Emerging Markets: One of the biggest surprises of 2024–2025 was the explosion of EVs in non-traditional markets.
   
   • Vietnam: EV market share surged to nearly 40% in 2025, led by local manufacturer VinFast.
   • Thailand & Brazil: Both countries now have higher EV penetration rates than the United States, largely due to the arrival of affordable Chinese brands like BYD and Great Wall Motor.
     
     
2. The Rise of "E-REVs": Range-extended electric vehicles (which use a small gas engine solely to charge the battery) became the fastest-growing segment in 2024, particularly in China, helping buyers overcome "range anxiety" in rural areas.
   
   
3. Battery Prices: For the first time, battery pack prices dropped below the $100/kWh threshold in 2024 for some Chinese manufacturers—the "holy grail" number that makes EVs price-competitive with gas cars without subsidies.

Verified global datasets show hundreds, not thousands, of confirmed traction-battery fires annually worldwide. EV FireSafe has validated 511 EV battery fires globally since 2010, with a measurable uptick as fleet size grows, not because per-vehicle risk is increasing. In high-adoption countries like Norway, 

BEVs accounted for ~7% of vehicle fires in early 2025 despite representing over 28% of the fleet. Australia recorded single-digit confirmed road-registered EV battery fires through mid-2024, many linked to external causes. The fire data pattern is consistent: absolute numbers rise with adoption, but rates remain extremely low when normalized per vehicle.

Verified EV Battery Fire Counts (Global)

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Globally, verified EV battery fires remain extremely rare compared with fleet size — just hundreds recorded over 14+ years — even as total EVs surge toward ~80 million by 2025. (Science Feedback)

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EV fires cluster around a small set of triggers. Charging-related stress accounts for roughly 18–30% of incidents, often revealing latent battery damage during high-load charging. 

Manufacturing defects, while rare, remain consequential due to cell-level impurities that can trigger delayed thermal runaway, sometimes days after a crash. Physical collisions are another major contributor, particularly when internal short circuits develop without immediate ignition. 

External fires, such as adjacent ICE vehicle fires, frequently ignite EV battery packs secondarily. Flooding and saltwater exposure are emerging risks, capable of causing fires long after submersion. Spontaneous ignition without a trigger remains statistically exceptional.

While it’s difficult to find concrete data on the breakdown of EV fire causes, these are the most widely known causes of the fire incidents.
Based on 2026 data shared by AutoInsuranceEZ, recalls for electric and hybrid vehicles were all related to battery issues, which is one of the leading causes of fires. Here are some of the models recalled in the past and the reason for recall:

Chevrolet Bolt EV: 70,000 vehicles recalled due to battery issues

Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid: 27,600 vehicles recalled due to battery issues

Hyundai Kona EV: 82,000 vehicles recalled due to battery issues

BMW 530e, xDrive30e, Mini Cooper Countryman All4 SE, i8, 330e, 745Le xDrive, & X5 xDrive45e Hybrid: 4,500 vehicles recalled due to battery issues 

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When normalized by vehicles on the road, EVs are between 20 and 80 times less likely to catch fire than ICE vehicles. The misconception persists because EV fires behave differently. ICE fires rely on liquid fuels and external oxygen, while lithium-ion batteries can generate oxygen internally, prolonging combustion and complicating suppression. 

Hybrids are the anomaly, combining fuel systems and high-voltage batteries in a single platform. From a frequency standpoint, EVs are safer. From an operational standpoint, they demand specialized response protocols.

EV vs ICE Fire Metrics

Risk concentrates where battery size, utilization intensity, and containment limits intersect. Public transit leads in consequence severity, with electric buses carrying massive battery packs in dense urban corridors. Commercial delivery fleets face elevated charging-related risk due to overnight depot charging and infrastructure shortcuts. Heavy-duty trucking introduces long-haul thermal loads and cost-sensitive operators who may underinvest in fire suppression. Maritime transport remains the most critical exposure, as lithium-ion fires aboard RoRo ships are exceptionally difficult to control and have already produced billion-dollar losses.

China generates the most real-world data, driven by scale, rapid charging deployment, and intense cost pressure in battery manufacturing. Several 2025 incidents involved rapid-onset fires during driving or parking. North America focuses increasingly on residential charging safety and recalls, as home infrastructure becomes the dominant interface risk. Europe, including Spain, shows lower fire rates due to stricter charging standards and evolving regulations, such as dedicated EV parking fire controls and thermal monitoring in garages. Adoption speed matters less than infrastructure maturity.ks.

As technological advances are made in cooling systems, batteries, and other fire prevention technologies, the risk of EV fire incidents may become lower. Here are a few key advances you should know about.

• Solid-State Batteries: Solid-state batteries are considered safer than traditional lithium-ion batteries due to their use of solid electrolytes, which are generally nonflammable. This significantly reduces the risk of thermal runaway, which is a primary cause of battery fires.
• Battery Management Systems (BMS): Advanced BMS actively monitors and regulates cell temperature and voltage to improve battery safety. They may play a major role in preventing overcharging and overheating, and ensuring balanced cell operation is well-documented.
• Advanced Materials: Fire-resistant casings and cooling systems may also delay fire propagation and provide more time for intervention. Innovations such as BYD's Blade Battery use fire-resistant materials and designs to enhance safety.

EV fire litigation increasingly centers on design defects, manufacturing liability, and failure to warn. Insurers now recognize that EV claims cost ~30% more on average, largely because battery replacement often totals the vehicle. Maritime cases have intensified disputes over proximate cause, especially when evidence is destroyed at sea. Regulators and courts expect manufacturers to account for extended burn times, toxic runoff, and specialized suppression needs, reshaping underwriting, recalls, and risk disclosures.

Modern EV fire investigation blends physical evidence with digital reconstruction. Do revise our fire glossary to understand our flamin’ content.

‍Battery Management System logs provide timelines of voltage, temperature, and fault events that often determine origin and cause. Physical indicators include localized module damage, dense white electrolyte vapor, and acoustic rupture signatures. Updated guidance in NFPA 921 emphasizes avoiding confirmation bias and analyzing thermal propagation paths, not just burn severity. The statistics reinforce a core lesson: EV fires demand forensic precision, not assumption-driven conclusions.