Electric cars banned in garages: real risk or social panic?

Electric cars banned in garages: the fire risk nobody wants to see

The sign posted in a shared residential garage read: "No access for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles". The image spread and reignited a debate that has been simmering for weeks. The electric car, presented as the green solution of the future, is running into the reality of underground car parks: what do you do when a lithium battery catches fire?

A fire that water won't put out

The paradox is obvious. Electric vehicles catch fire less often than combustion ones, according to studies cited in the debate, but when they do, putting them out is a nightmare. The problem is the lithium-ion battery: once it goes into "thermal runaway" — the technical term — the chemical reaction does not stop even if you submerge the car in water. Extinguishing the flames takes more than twice as much water as a conventional car and far more time. In an underground garage, the risk of the fire spreading to other vehicles is real and the property damage can be substantial.

Some argue the ban is an overreaction: statistics show that pure electric cars burn less often than hybrids and petrol cars. But others point out that a single poorly controlled fire can empty an entire building. The incident in January 2026 in Bilbao, where an electric scooter exploded in an apartment in the Atxuri neighbourhood, peine the debate about the safety of lithium batteries in enclosed spaces. The blast produced large amounts of black smoke and forced the evacuation of the building.

Regulations and neighbour disputes

Current Spanish law requires homeowners' associations to install charging points if a resident requests one, with no possibility of a veto at the general meeting. This creates tension between those who already own an electric car and those who antiestéticar the garage could become a fire trap. The sign, probably put up by an individual with a dark sense of humour, reflects a legitimate concern: what happens if the neighbour's car catches fire on level -2?

Insurance premiums for homeowners' associations are already rising, and it is not far-fetched to think they will climb further if electric cars become the norm in underground car parks. Some suggest the solution lies in safer batteries, such as LiFePo, or in liquid cooling systems and slow charging. Others believe an outright ban is an exaggeration, but few deny the risk exists.

The question left hanging

Electric mobility is advancing, driven by subsidies and restrictions on diesel, but the infrastructure of residential buildings is not ready. Is it reasonable to ban electric cars from shared garages until specific firefighting protocols are developed? That sign perhaps wasn't a joke, but a warning of what is to come. Meanwhile, the tension between climate urgency and everyday safety remains unresolved.