There are no youtube videos of petrol spontaneously combust from someone's pocket. I am happier to risk petrol than lithium.
There were at one time, it seems gas lighters were exploding in welders pockets, when sparks hit the plastic containers, and there was a big campaign to stop people using welding sets and burning gear from carrying plastic lighters.
I remember going to a lecture in the 70's about using north sea gas to power cars, it seems it worked OK, but it needs to be kept cold, and in an accident the insulation could get damaged, so the safety valve would release gas, which could then burn, so they were not marketed as being unsafe.
Today we have crash tests, if over a set amount of cars are made, I would hope the electric cars can pass the crash test?
In all my life very few cars have had any problem while parked, I know of two, both on the Falklands, both Landrovers, one the starter motor cranked the car into a ditch, the other went on fire, of all the Landrovers there, it happened to be the fire engine. Seen loads of car fires, but only two when the car was parked. The other fire was in the Liverpool car park. That one every one knows about as so many cars burnt as a result.
The
resent fire, it says there were electric cars, but as yet it has not said fire caused by electric cars.
I have three concerns with electric cars.
1) TN-C-S supplies with out an effective way to disconnect the car with loss of PEN.
2) Batteries going on fire.
3) Trip hazard with charging cables.
The latter does seem to be a big problem, I have many times found coils of cable left where likely to trip me up. Yes no different to the pipe to fill a tank, but they are left unattended for an extended time.
In ones drive for loss of PEN to cause a danger is remote, as to actually happen while your touching it is very unlikely. On the street it is a different situation, many more people are passing the car, however in the main a charge point on ones drive will have auto disconnection with loss of PEN, it is the so called granny leads used to charge on the street which are far more likely not to have loss of PEN detection.
OK I was watching the train today
and yes that seems a lot of smoke, but to be fair mainly down to having to import poor quality coal as Welsh mines have closed, OK heritage trains in total produce very little CO2, but we are still running diesel trains on the commercial lines, should not we do trains first?
Diesel trains don't have to pass any exhaust emissions test before being used, no addblue or any other devices to reduce particular emissions, so it is clear whole idea is to get the general public to spend money, and has nothing to do with saving the planet.
So it is down to risk assessment, and is the risk of fire, tripping, or electrocution worth it to go electric?
