Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has assessed the implications for its policies of findings from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency indicating that hybrid vehicles experience approximately 3,475 fires per 100,000 vehicles compared to around 1,500 per 100,000 for petrol and diesel vehicles; and what discussions her Department has had with international counterparts on comparative vehicle fire risk data.

The safety of hybrid-electric vehicles is of paramount importance to the Government and is kept under regular review.

According to data from Thatcham Research, 2022, which compares claims data from the Motor Insurance Anti-Fraud and Theft Register against the number of that powertrain on the roads, hybrids are on average less likely to be involved in a fire than their petrol or diesel counterparts. The proportion of hybrids involved in fires per year is reported by Thatcham as 3 per 100,000, compared with petrol at 7 per 100,000 and diesel at 11 per 100,000.

There are stringent requirements already in place for hybrid vehicles (as there are for all road vehicles). UNECE Regulation No. 100, as applied in GB Type Approval, ensures hybrid EV (fire) safety through requirements to minimise fire risks associated with high-voltage components. The United Kingdom, along with international partners, plays an active role in the development of these regulations, which are informed by research and data from across the world.

The same research indicates that the risk of fire is lower still in battery electric vehicles - 1 per 100,000 per year.