Danish authorities have warned people not to put kitchen gadgets near electric car batteries after a man caused a blaze when he bizarrely tried using a toaster to ‘warm up’ his electric car battery.
The unnamed person carried out his doomed motoring hack at a property in Stenlille, Denmark, about 40 miles from Copenhagen on Saturday.
It’s reported the man placed a toaster underneath his electric vehicle in a wacky bid to heat his car battery in the belief it would help get his motor running.
Unsurprisingly, subjecting the battery to exrtreme heat only resulted in setting it alight causing a blaze which burned the car and the man’s home.
In a statement Danish Police said no one was injured in the blast but that they “strongly discourage” anyone repeating the man’s actions.
They said: “The cause of the fire is most likely to be found in the toaster that the owner of the car had placed under the front of his car to keep the battery warm.”
According to Sky News the electric car was being stored in a car port at the man’s home when it caught fire. The car port and the man’s house was damaged, there were also unconfirmed reports a neighbour’s property was affected.
The make and model of the electric vehicle is unknown but it is understood the person who tried using a toaster to heat their car will face a fine.
Like fossil fuels in a conventional car, lithium-ion electric car batteries are also combustible. If subjected to heat a chain reaction can be triggered causing an explosion.
However, a study from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency found that that petrol and diesel cars caught fire 19 times more often than EVs.
According to Autocar Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service recorded 1898 car fires in 2019, of which the majority were from petrol and diesel vehicles, with just 54 from EVs.
