The best available UK figure I found is 232 electric car fires in 2024 , up from 131 in 2022 ; a related report also says 118 electric car fires in 2023.

UK EV fire counts

  • 2023: 118 electric car fires, according to QBE-linked reporting.
  • 2024: 232 electric car fires, according to QBE-linked reporting.
  • Change: that is a rise of about 97% from 2023 to 2024.

Important context

These figures are for electric car fires , not all vehicle fires, and they come from fire-service records gathered through FOI requests.

A broader UK lithium-ion battery report says there were 1,330 lithium-ion battery fires in 2024 , but most were not electric cars; e-bikes were the biggest category.

Why counts vary

Different articles use different cutoffs and datasets, so the totals can vary depending on whether they mean:

  • electric cars only,
  • all EV-related fires,
  • or all lithium-ion battery fires.

HTML version

[9] [10]
YearUK electric car firesSource
2023118QBE-linked reporting
2024232QBE-linked reporting
TL;DR: **UK electric car fires were reported at 118 in 2023 and 232 in 2024.**