Fire Safety Of Battery-Electric Vehicles
I notice that there has been talk of fires in battery-electric vehicles on this blog.
So I thought I’d put up a post with an appropriate topic.
There are some things that already could worry me.
- Vivarail had a fire early on.
- The Merseyrail Class 777 trains go in the tunnels under Liverpool.
- The new Piccadilly Line trains will have batteries.
- Did electric vehicle batteries contribute to the ferocity of the fire in the Luton Airport car park?
- Fire brigades are getting very worried about e-scooter and e-bike fires.
- This page on the Internet gives details of recent BESS fires.
- Do we investigate fires and publish the results properly?
I have some questions.
- Would it be sensible to have nationwide database of all batteries?
- Should we use more non-lithium methods in large stationary batteries?
- Should we use more capacitors?
- Should we make it a criminal offence to build or use a non-compliant e-bike or e-scooter?
- Should installing a battery in your house, need a safety certificate?
One half of me says yes and the other says no, to some of these questions.
The Anonymous Widower 
I’d just point out that the scooter/bike batteries are very low end/cheapos. Lithium is particularly prone to damage. You’ll remember there was a spate of Samsung Note fires a few years back. They recalled them, and changed the manufacturing process and the problem disappeared. I had an issue with my last but one laptop, which didn’t catch fire, but the battery did swell up. I got rid of it PDQ, as I definitely didn’t want a fire/explosion on my lap.
Lithium dominates the market atm, but that’s because manufacturing and supply chains are well established. But other materials would be cheaper and much more suitable for static batteries. The Chinese are already producing EVs with sodium-ion batteries. They don’t have the range of lithium, but then for small urban runabout you don’t need a large range. You can in principle store energy in all sorts of materials, and weight isn’t an issue for static batteries. I expect we’ll see lots of alternatives emerge over the next few years.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 18, 2024 |
I think finance will play a part. The three main BESS funders Gore Street, Gresham House and Harmony have share price problems, so one solution might be to embrace some of the more affordable energy storage systems, like Cheesecake Energy, Form Energy, Gravitricity, Highview Power and RheEnergise. As Gravitricity seem to be getting the order for a large system in Finland, perhaps they are the place to start.
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/gravitricity-weighs-up-one-of-europe-s-deepest-mines/
Comment by AnonW | February 18, 2024 |
Whatever the source of energy in a vehicle it will be prone to fire / explosion – steam, petrol, gas, diesel or stored electricity.
I have seen a new burnt-out hybrid bus near me and lithium does burn well (as do magnesium alloy wheels if they get started), and neither can be extinguished with water.
New offences – no, but as with unroadworthy cars seizure..
Comment by R. Mark Clayton | February 18, 2024 |
https://www.energy-storage.news/the-evolving-bess-market-in-2024-a-key-year-for-safety-new-technologies-and-long-duration-energy-storage/ has just been published. This summary of the current status is about large-scale battery storage, not vehicles, but they highlight safety and alternative tech. The article also includes a link to a site which maintains a database of safety-related incidents.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 19, 2024 |