A recent run of high-profile battery fires in electric cars has thrown fresh attention on the safety of the vehicles now filling Canada's roads. At issue is the reliability of the large lithium batteries that millions of drivers have come to depend on. A number of specialists now caution that, unless bold measures are taken to make these batteries safer, the whole shift away from gasoline could be placed in jeopardy. "These past months have unsettled a great many drivers," said Odette Tremblay, a provincial transport-policy analyst. "People see the alarming headlines and picture a blaze breaking out in their own garage, which could undo years of steady progress and, in the worst cases, put a family in danger.
We have reached a stage where many are doubting the entire push to electrify the roads, and honestly I understand why. Once you take in how fierce some of these fires were, and how new the vehicles that caught alight were supposed to be, a sense of unease is hard to shake. For a rural driver served by a single vehicle, holding on to an old gasoline car and trusting familiar machinery can begin to look sensible."
