An electric vehicle charging zone inside a parking lot in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite a number of highly-publicized electric vehicle (EV) fires, the actual number of incidents involving fires and explosions in EVs is actually lower than that among non-EVs, data showed Thursday.
According to a data analysis conducted by the Korea Insurance Development Institute (KIDI), the number of accidents caused by fires and explosions in EVs totaled 29 cases, which is equivalent to 0.78 per 10,000 EVs in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022.
During the same period, the number of such accidents for non-EVs totaled 6,049 cases, or 0.90 per 10,000 non-EV vehicles.
However, in terms of the value of damages per case, EVs experienced 13.06 million won (US$9,890), significantly higher than the 6.97 million won for non-EVs.
As of last year, the EV accident rate stood at 17.2 percent, which is higher than the 15 percent for non-EVs.
Over the past five years, the number of vehicle-to-human accidents per 10,000 units was 104 cases for EVs, surpassing the 71 cases for non-EVs.
“One major reason is that EVs tend to have a longer driving distance thanks to their favorable efficiency, thus exposing them to a higher risk of accidents,” said the KIDI.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
