Amazon electric vans catch fire in Houston heat; Rivian rules out battery failure

Electric vehicle fires are rare, but they quickly make headlines due to new technology and continued public education about electric vehicle safety. One recent incident that caught our attention involved three Rivian Amazon electric delivery vans (EDVs) that caught fire at an Amazon fulfillment center in Houston, Texas, this week.

For starters, Amazon is using thousands of electric vehicles made by Rivian to reduce its emissions. The fleet is growing rapidly, and they’re already all over the United States. Footage of the burning electric vehicles was captured by drone operator Third Coast Drone on July 1 and first reported by Gizmodo.

In the video above, you can see a large parking lot with dozens of electric vehicles, some of which are plugged in to charge. The high temperature that day had reached nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit, as the scorching summer heat wave continues to hit several U.S. states.

The drone operator saw plumes of toxic black smoke rising into the sky first from a Rivian EDV, then the fire spread to two other EDVs parked nearby.

“We are aware of the incident and are investigating the situation,” a Rivian spokesperson told InsideEVs. “There were no injuries. While we are gathering information, it is too early to say what may have caused this thermal event.”

“We are pleased that no one was injured and we are grateful for the quick response from the Houston Fire Department,” Amazon said in a statement. “We are working with a third-party investigator and experts from Rivian to investigate and will not speculate, so we will not share additional details until we are certain of the facts.”

Immediate safety measures were also taken at the site. Chargers connected to the damaged control panel were all turned off. Amazon electrical engineers and a high-voltage specialist determined that the remaining chargers at the site were safe to use.

Studies have shown that electric vehicles catch fires far less often than combustion engine vehicles. In the rare cases where this happens, the fires are dramatic and extremely difficult to extinguish. This is partly because the lithium-ion battery is extremely flammable.

“A few vehicles were impacted by the incident, but the thermal event spread from the source to surrounding vehicles,” Rivian said. “This vehicle was plugged into a charger, but was not charging when the incident occurred. The high-voltage battery was not the cause of the incident,” the spokesperson added.

In the video above, you can see firefighters struggling to put out the flames, but they continue to rage, illustrating the challenges first responders face due to thermal runaway, a phenomenon in which lithium-ion battery cells enter an uncontrollable state of self-heating and creating oxygen and the pack continues to reignite until there is nothing left to burn.

Modern lithium-ion batteries have come a long way in terms of fire safety. The US doesn’t seem to have a record of electric vehicle fires, but Norway found that combustion engine vehicles are four to five times more likely to catch fire. Another study in Sweden found that all non-electric fuel types caused 68 fires per 100,000 vehicles, compared to 3.8 fires per 100,000 vehicles for electric vehicles.

That’s not to say things can’t go wrong. Using uncertified batteries, irregular charging patterns, battery pack damage, and extreme heat are all causes of fires in electric vehicles.