Photo: YONHAP/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Farmington Hills Fire Department in Michigan has received new fire safety equipment to help tackle electric vehicle (EV) fires, which are stronger and last longer compared to gas-powered vehicles fires.
The crew received six EV fire blankets, traffic safety vests, and an EV plug to shut off an EV involved in an accident. The acquisition of the new equipment comes as the sale of EVs becomes increasingly popular and EV fires may become more common.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that battery powered EVs suffer only 25 fires per 100,000 sold but far more dangerous and take significantly longer to put out, leaving them to be more devastating than petrol- or diesel-powered car fires. For example, a Tesla vehicle caught fire in April 2021 and took seven hours and 28,000 gallons of water to put out.
Farmington Hills fire Chief, Jon Unruh, said:
“Our fire department is continuing to adapt our response plans to meet the hazards associated with emerging electric vehicle technology.
“As sales of electric and hybrid vehicles increase, the Fire Department will encounter more electric vehicles on our roadways, and we will be prepared to respond to these emergency scenes.”
The UK government has also recently took greater measures to help decrease the risk of EV-related fires. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) have released
interim guidance about the parking and/or charging of electric vehicles (EVs) in covered car parks. The guidance provides solutions that are aimed at car park operators, designers, risk assessors and owners.
Some of the safety suggestions in the source include providing a manual isolation switch to cut power supply of EVCP. This is because if an EV is on fire and charging, the continued supply of energy may increase the internal battery temperature and intensify reactions within the battery cell.
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