They already are safer than ICE cars.
this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2026
214 points (97.3% liked)
World News
55796 readers
1731 users here now
A community for discussing events around the World
Rules:
-
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
-
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
-
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed.
-
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
-
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF OCTOBER 19 2025
-
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
-
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
-
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
Lemmy World Partners
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
Recommendations
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
- Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
honestly the only major safety issues with EVs is tesla specific and their ultra retarded door handle system. Yes lets take a simple mechanical system that has worked great for 200 years and make it an electric button, then hide the real mechanical release in a spot that you can't find when panicked and choking to death on smoke. Great job, so futuristic.
Bigger issue overall is fire departments dragging their feet on not having the correct gear/training to handle self sustaining lithium fires. Gasoline is easy to suppress and dilute, lithium not so much, since it's difficult to get water directly to the cells to cool them below autoignition point.
The chevy bolt had a battery fire problem with early models that was pretty bad but they replaced all the batteries in the car and it was fine. We got ours replaced for free which essentially made it new given the batteries are the first major component that needs to be replaced.
No but I heard about an electric car burning once, and none of my ice cars have ever combusted, so CLEARLY, electrics are deathtraps
/s
The difference is in what happens if they do catch fire though. ICE fires can be extinguished. Li battery fires are "wait until it burns out".
It makes a big difference if your car is on a boat.
Or inside your garage. Or a parking deck. Or a repair shop.
Safer than an explosion-powered car carrying a big tank of gasoline? A bold claim! /s
Cybertrucks are (supposedly) deadlier than Ford Pintos so it really depends on the comparison
Maybe we shouldn’t attempt to generalize about the categorizes by choosing the most grotesque extremes of both.
Why not
Because by definition the furthest outliers have the least to say about the rest of the group.
Teslas crash more than any other brand. 3/3 last years.
No shit dude the company owner is a coked up idiot who thinks 64-bit glued together utes are the pinnacle of style
that's because they're the bmw of ev's. A disproportionate amount of assholes drive them.
Wait, how? Aren't they essentially the same except heavier?
one sets itself on fire over and over thousand of times a minute, using the explosive force to spin wheels.
The other doesn't.
They are dissimilar in this regard.
Of course, but we're talking safety here. The claim is that ICE vehicles are less safe than EVs. I'm wondering how that is since all of the safety features will be essentially the same.
If you're saying one has a higher risk of fire injury I'd love to see the stats on that as fires for either type are pretty rare.
Every study has concluded that EV's catch fire at a rate orders of magnitude lower than ICE vehicles. That's a rate, so it takes into account the disparity in numbers of vehicles between ice and ev's
It's pretty easy to look up, even the slop machines give the right answer.
Again, talking about safety, not fires. Not only does number of fires not necessarily mean more dangerous: the fires could be on average smaller and/or easier to escape from, or maybe they tend to happen while unoccupied (block heater fires for example) etc. but also EVs could be more dangerous in other ways (they are heavier so maybe harder to avoid certain types of incidents?) so it'd be a wash even though they're less likely to burn.
Additionally, rates are a better way of looking at these things I agree, but ignoring sample size and use case can miss part off the story. That might not be free case here, it's just worth keeping in mind.
I'm not sure I agree, but much of that is coming from their heinous "not ready for real world use" like "autopilot" and "FSD".
I just don't want to be anywhere near one when a battery's breached. That's when it goes from relatively safe to RUN FOR YOUR LIVES.
Hope you can unlock the doors!!!
load more comments
(2 replies)
AFAIK sodium chemistry batteries are the worst for mobile applications as they're much less energy dense meaning you'll have a heavier pack that needs to be charged more frequently, though it is cheaper for manufacturers to produce. I recall that these work best for grid power storage where size and weight aren't an issue.
The packs CATL makes now are 175Whr/kg which is very close to LFP. They're already EV-worthy.
That's great but emerging technologies are shooting for double or triple that amount, so why switch to something thats just barely reaching the equivalent potential of what's already old news?
Because it's safer, cheaper and works in cold weather.
What EVs don't work in cold weather? Cheaper for the manufacturer for sure, and potentially safer though its not as if EV fires are some major epidemic.
At a significant loss, yes. When it was really cold here that was about 30-40%
load more comments
(2 replies)
I imagine vastly lower cost would be one reason. 450km range chargeable in 11 minutes would be enough for a significant proportion of people and likely desirable if the cost is low enough. I don't think it's likely that lithium would match the price/perf ratio of sodium so I think we're likely to see a lot more sodium in applications that don't require the absolute best energy density. So in a way, sodium might be the front runner, ahead of advanced lithium, in terms of what's going to be adopted. 😅
E: Also we're talking sodium batteries in production. If and when double-triple density lithium or another shows up, it might change the calculus depending on price, safety, etc.
Exactly. Another big plus is that they don’t shit the bed when it gets cold.
Yup, and that's exactly what we need for transitioning the entire grid to renewables. Mobile applications should be a marginal/convenience thing compared to actual infrastructure.
Not the worst, they are still much better than traditional lead-batteries, but worse than lithium. Cheap, low-range EVs are an option however.
Other than that, you're right. They are much more useful for grid storage, where energy density is way less important than cost.
EVs are not the primary application for sodium ion batteries, I dont know why this post is trying to focus on that. The really exciting application is cheap grid-scale energy storage, making renewables even cheaper than they already are.
Liquid electrolyte turns into a solid insulator when heated. 211Wh/kg very cool
I can't wait for this to cross over to Canada.
We've seen articles like this one for at least a decade, and real change has never arrived. Either it's completely poppycock like usual, or prohibitively expensive and borderline UN-craftable outside of a billion dollar lab.
Don't get too excited.
Trump's dislike of EVs is causing the US to fall behind technologically in its development.
Correction: Telsa's regulatory capture has lead to a stagnant market.
Solution: Allow Chinese EVs into the market.
NEW REVOLUTIONARY BATTERY TECHNOLOGY #46284956947
Uh huh, seen these on a weekly basis for at least 30 years now. Wake me up when you have one in a car
Wtf is an ice car?
Internal combustion engine
i see thanks
yeah no those burn down all the time lol
Yes my wife has had 2 cars that had a fire. But they could be fixed, mostly new cables.
Problem with an EV catching fire is that it is hotter more intense and cannot be put out with a fire extinguisher. Even real firefighters can't generally put it out. Pouring water on it makes it worse.
Yeah, yeah. I have heard of new super batteries for well over a decade now. Nothing ever seems to come of it.
Not this time. They are already being used. They are not super batterie though and won't to replace Lithium batteries any time soon, but they have their niches.
The main advantage over Lithium batteries is that sodium is an abundant ressource.
Of course it does. But it always happens about ten years after the breakthrough, and we barely notice, because batteries just get a bit smaller, so the capacity stays the same.
I find the ICE acronym in a title irritating and lazy.
view more: next ›