IN-DEPTH: Tory MP Says Government Needs to Wake up to Fire Risk From Electric Vehicles

A Conservative MP who has been campaigning against plans to build an electric bus garage underneath a residential skyscraper in north London says the government, in its rush to meet net zero targets, has not recognised the inherent fire risks posed by lithium batteries. Bob Blackman, who is chair of the All Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group, said, “There’s a huge fire safety risk, and you could get to a position whereby a block of flats could literally collapse under the circumstances, which doesn’t doesn’t bear thinking about.” He said: “Lithium is one of those chemicals which burns at a very high temperature … and adding water to lithium is not a good plan either … It is a very high risk, and our problem is that the technology and safety is not yet proven.”...