Posts about allegedly exploding electric cars have been circulating on social media for a long time. However, the footage usually shows cars with combustion engines that the authors of such manipulations misleadingly label as electric vehicles. According to available data, electric cars are in fact safer in this regard, as fires and explosions occur far less frequently. What do these viral posts look like, and how widespread is the narrative about exploding electric cars? We describe this phenomenon in our prebunking article.
For years, manipulative posts about alleged electric car explosions have repeatedly appeared on social media. These posts typically include real videos of car explosions, which the authors present as “electric cars” or “hybrids”, even though the vehicles in the videos are actually powered by combustion engines. These videos are also often much older than their authors admit.
The main narrative of these posts is that electric cars – or more precisely, their batteries – carry a higher risk of spontaneous combustion and explosion compared to vehicles with combustion engines. In reality, however, there is no research confirming that electric cars are more prone to explosions and burn more often than conventional combustion engines – quite the opposite (.pdf). All cars that manufacturers put on the market must also undergo a series of safety tests and checks in advance, regardless of whether they are combustion engine or electric cars.
Cars sometimes catch fire – combustion engines more often
Recent research by the insurance company AutoinsuranceEZ explains that, according to available data, explosions are statistically more likely in cars with combustion engines due to the risk of fuel ignition in a collision with another vehicle. Although this is not a peer-reviewed study, in 2021 the company analysed data from the US National Transportation Safety Board and found that only 25 vehicle fires were reported per 100,000 electric cars sold. In contrast, there were 1,530 fires for the same number of combustion engine cars sold and 3,475 fires for hybrid cars. According to this analysis, the probability of fire is more than 60 times higher for cars with pure combustion engines.
Lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries, which are used in some electric cars, can very rarely experience a phenomenon called “thermal runaway,” where the battery self-ignites due to the release of toxic and flammable gases. This process can lead to the explosion of the vehicle, but the probability of this phenomenon occurring is actually extremely low. The conclusion that electric cars have a significantly lower risk of explosions and fires is also confirmed by other studies, e.g. from Sweden and Australia.
Tesla, which until recently was the world’s largest manufacturer of electric cars, states in its safety report that between 2012 and 2023, there was an average of one fire per 135 million miles driven (approximately 217 million kilometres). The company compares this figure with data from the international non-profit organisation NFPA and the US Department of Transportation, according to which there is one fire per 17 million miles (approximately 27 million km) driven in the US. The risk of fire in Tesla electric cars was thus about eight times lower than the average for all vehicles in the US. However, unlike the Department’s data, the data on Tesla car fires also included cases where the cause of the incident was not the car itself, but, for example, building fires or arson attacks.
Climate change deniers and high-profile politician
Posts in the Czech online space that manipulatively claim that exploding cars are electric vehicles are popular thanks to users whose profiles have hundreds or sometimes even tens of thousands of followers. However, the key to a viral post is not the number of followers, but rather the social network algorithm, which prioritises similar controversial content that attracts reactions and comments from other users. Thanks to this, these posts, which we have repeatedly pointed out in the past, can reach thousands of reactions. However, the total reach of some of them was in the hundreds of thousands of views, and one viral video was even viewed by millions of users.
The disseminators of these posts usually oppose electromobility in general and warn about its alleged dangers. They also tend to downplay the effects of climate change or criticise the European Union, the Green Deal, the USA, or Western support for Ukraine. These are typically individuals who engage with political topics as amateurs and do not directly support any particular political party.
One exception is Karla Maříková, a former MP for the SPD party. She shared one of the videos on her Facebook profile in May 2023, and her post was seen by over 100,000 people. Although Maříková’s active political background differs from the usual pattern of such content creators, her social media activity fits the general scheme described: she frequently criticises EU green policies and, for example, Western support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
What does a typical post about an allegedly burning electric car look like?
As an example of such manipulation, let us take a post from May 2023, which garnered millions of views on Facebook. Its author posted a video showing dozens of cars on fire and added a caption stating that it was a fire in an electric car warehouse in the US. The fire was said to have started after the battery of one car caught fire.
Source: Facebook
In reality, however, the video shows a fire at a car warehouse in the suburbs of Perth, Australia. This happened on 28 April 2023. The Australian media also reported on the fire, and a 22-second video first appeared on Facebook, which was later shared with a false description. The fact that there were no electric cars among the burning cars was confirmed by a spokesperson for Pickles, the company that operated the warehouse. It is worth noting that this video was also shared on Facebook by former SPD MP Karla Maříková.
Another in a series of manipulative posts about electric cars shows a video from a petrol station, in which one of the cars allegedly being charged explodes after a few seconds. The author of the post commented ironically: “Well, yes, electric cars sometimes have a few glitches, like exploding a little when charging.” However, as in the previous case described, this was not an electric car either.
Source: Facebook
In fact, the video shows a CNG filling station in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. The explosion occurred while refuelling with compressed natural gas. The video shows a red metal pressure cylinder flying out of the car, which then bounces and hits a station worker. The local department of the Uzbek Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed that it was an explosion of a CNG car.
In this case, too, the author of the post provided false information about the type of vehicle. The descriptions in both cases also contained only a short text in which the authors identified the cars in the videos as electric cars. However, the comments lacked any mention of possible sources for this (false) information.
Social networks and mainstream media
The examples of false posts presented here come from Facebook, but many similar posts are also spreading on other platforms, and these posts typically appear in other languages as well. In the past, for example, a report of an alleged electric car explosion on a motorway appeared on social network X (formerly Twitter), but then spread across Facebook, TikTok and YouTube in various languages.
However, according to a British study, false information about electric cars is not only spreading among social media users, but also through mainstream media. The analysis finds that major British newspapers have published false information in their articles, including reports about the alleged higher susceptibility of electric cars to fire.
Surveys show that information about the alleged higher risk of explosions and fires in electric cars is proving successful. In June, the British newspaper The Guardian drew attention to research by the University of Queensland, according to which almost half of the Australian population believes that electric cars are more prone to fire than cars with combustion engines. More than a third of those surveyed directly believe false information related to electric mobility.
Conclusion
The phenomenon of false and misleading posts about the risk of electric cars exploding has been recurring in recent years, mirroring the increased public interest in electric vehicles as such. Posts on social media typically depict real incidents where cars have caught fire or exploded. The authors of the posts claim that these are electric cars, but in reality they are usually cars with combustion engines. These are statistically more prone to fire and explosion than electric cars. The posts are spread in various languages. In the Czech online space, they often have a high reach, in exceptional cases even several million views.
This text was created in 2025 for the project Prebunking at Scale with the support of EFCSN.
