I have to go find the link, but NTSB statistics show that gas cars catch fire at about five times the rate of electric cars. I have personally watched a gas car burn right to the ground after a gas tank puncture. Everyone got out (fortunately) but inside of three minutes the car (full sized GM car) was totally destroyed. Of course, if you want to bash the flammability of gas powered car, one word will do it: PINTO!
Fires in electric cars are different, and allegedly harder to put out. Gasoline car fires go out when all the gas is burned up. Electric car batteries sometimes reignite until they are fully discharged. Fire departments are learning how to deal with them, so in a few years, this will be a non-issue.
I really don't care what makes my car go - gasoline, electricity, pixie dust, I just want the capabilities I need and the performance I want at the lowest cost. Right now, gasoline cars do the job, but electric cars are gaining fast.
BYD (China) is offering a very nice "city" car for just under ten grand brand new, and they say they are making a profit on that. To meet US safety specs (a very good idea!), the car might sell for $15K instead of $10K. No, repeat NO, US or European car company has been able to come close to that. Allegations of slave labor, the grid won't support it, geopolitics, it'll flat murder domestic producers notwithstanding, $15K for a quite adequate, brand new "errand car" sounds like a pretty good deal. Other car makers better figure out how to do this and copy it or they'll be history.
Then of course people will complain about poor quality. Remember when Honda started shipping cars here in the late 60s and early 70s? They were pretty underwhelming, but now they are among the best cars in the world. Look at Subaru, their first US effort was a 360cc joke, nowadays you see Subarus everywhere, and they are darn good. I see no reason that Chinese cars won't improve as well, and rapidly.
Things change, sometimes faster than we'd like, sometimes in ways we don't like, but they change anyway. We can't stop this, we have to make the best of it, and sometimes the best is pretty darn good.
Best Regards,
Mike/Florida