比亚迪电动车事故引发公众安全忧虑
在中国深圳高速公路上发生的一起悲惨的电动出租车意外事故，引发了公众对电动车新技术的是否安全的进一步忧虑。
2012年05月26日，一辆日产GTR跑车以大约180公里/小时的速度撞到两辆出租车后部。其中一辆出租车是比亚迪E6纯电动车，引发的大火并使车内一名司机和两名乘客当场死亡。与此同时另外一辆出租车发生了翻车，其司机只是轻微受伤。据报道，警方正在调查起火原因，怀疑是否有发生爆炸。
然而，在起火原因正式被公布前电动车的安全性引起了公众的关注和忧虑。
比亚迪回应强调E6已通过权威碰撞测试，并符合所有国家的安全标准。事实上，它指出在过去两年中，比亚迪E6出租车行驶已超过1500公里，之前发生的18起追尾事故没有发生任何火灾或人员伤亡。比亚迪认为，事故的极端性可能令传统的汽油动力车同样发生燃烧。
但是，电动汽车的安全性仍然值得担忧，特别是去年杭州的一辆由国内汽车制造商众泰生产的电动出租车忽然发生起火，政府调查报告表明汽车电池泄露引发了短路。
同样，去年在美国雪佛兰Volt汽车在经历三个多星期的锂电池撞击测试后起火，事件促使通用汽车公司作出一些技术修改。
Electric car crash prompts safety concerns
A tragic high speed accident involving an all-electric taxi in the Chinese city of Shenzhen has sparked further concerns about the safety of the new technology.
On May 26, a Nissan GTR sports car smashed into the rear of two taxis at an estimated speed of 180km/h. One of the taxis was a BYD e6 all-electric car (pictured) – and it caught fire, with its driver and two passengers dying at the scene. Meanwhile, the other taxi rolled over with its driver only slightly injured.
According to reports, police are said to be investigating the cause of the fire and are interested in whether or not there was an explosion.
However, even before the cause of the fire has been revealed, public concerns have been raised about the safety of electric cars.
BYD has responded by highlighting that the e6 has passed authoritative crash tests and has adhered to all national safety standards. Indeed it states that over the last two years, BYD e6 taxis have been driven over 15million kilometres and involved in 18 previous rear-end accidents without any fires or casualties. It believes that the extreme nature of the accident could have prompted a traditional petrol-powered car to ignite in a similar fashion.
However, there are still concerns about the safety of electric cars, particularly as last year an electric taxi in Hangzhou, which was made by domestic carmaker Zotye, spontaneously caught fire with a government report suggesting the car’s battery leaked and prompted a short circuit.
Similarly, in the USA last year, a Chevrolet Volt caught fire in storage more than three weeks after a crash test damaged its lithium-ion battery, prompting General Motors to make a number of modifications.
