My mother-in-law sent me a message about this report (our local NBC News covered it, too). The battery of an EV or hybrid does store a descent amount of electric, which poses a certain risk, I imagine. I couldn't find any examples of someone being electrocuted, but hey. And of course, we would all be much safer driving around with large tanks of gasoline under our seats. No potential danger there.
I found this on Car Talk's website: "I've heard that hybrid vehicles involved in a crash pose a danger to emergency personnel, because those workers might get electrocuted by cutting through a high-voltage cable. I'd hate to live with the guilt of zapping my neighborhood volunteer EMTs!
The automakers have addressed this concern by painting the high-voltage lines a bright orange color and encasing the lines in metal housings beneath the passenger compartment, where they're well out of the way. In addition, they've put their rescue procedures online, and offered training courses to emergency responders. In fact, the California Air Resources Board has found that these "vehicles pose no additional risks over a conventional vehicle," and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is not aware of any deaths of EMT personnel - and there's about a million hybrid vehicles on the road. We do worry, however, about those folks who aren't trained, such as tow truck drivers and Good Samaritans."
