Forum: Robust standards and public awareness key to EV safety
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We refer to the Forum letters from Mr Goh Chuan Seem ( Make it mandatory for EVs to carry fire extinguishers Mandatory fire extinguishers for EVs not practical
All electric vehicles (EVs) approved for use in Singapore must comply with international safety standards, such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Regulation No. 100, which subjects both the vehicle body and the battery to rigorous testing.
In addition, every EV is equipped with a battery management system that monitors and regulates battery performance. This helps to ensure that the battery operates within safe limits during charging and discharging.
These safeguards have contributed to the relatively low incidence of EV fires.
In 2025, EVs accounted for about 1.8 per cent of vehicle fires despite making up about 6 per cent of Singapore’s vehicle population. This translates to about seven fires per 100,000 EVs, compared with about 22 fires per 100,000 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, indicating a lower fire incidence rate for EVs.
EV fires differ in nature from those involving ICE vehicles and require a different response. EV fires may involve thermal runaway of the battery, which is of high voltage, and the EV may therefore burn more intensely, and the fire may be more difficult to extinguish.
While a dry powder fire extinguisher may be useful to extinguish small fires in an ICE vehicle, such extinguishers are less effective against fires involving EV batteries.
Attempting to fight a battery fire without proper equipment and training poses significant risks, and members of the public should not attempt to do so. Instead, they should move to a safe distance of at least 15m away and call 995 for assistance.
For more information on protective actions to take during an EV fire, the public may refer to the Civil Defence Emergency Handbook available on the SCDF website at go.gov.sg/scdfcdeh
Alan Chow (Senior Assistant Commissioner)
Senior Director, Operations Department
Singapore Civil Defence Force
Alison Tan
Group Director, Technology and Industry Development
Land Transport Authority
