What Makes Electric Vehicle Fires So Difficult To Extinguish?

ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS AND FIRE RISK:

!.Fire Risks With the Installation of Electric Charging Stations: EV chargers face the same fire risk as any electrical installation. The safety of the charging stations can be affected by wiring components as well as the competency and experience of the installer. Improper or outdated wiring can short circuit, arc, and/or overheat, all of which can result in a serious fire. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.Fire Risks While Electronic Vehicles Are Charging Malfunctions are bound to occur in the transfer of high-voltage electricity between charging stations and vehicles. These malfunctions can result in a fire. The increase of charging stations entering the market brings an increase in these malfunctions and associated fire risks. Additionally, these vehicles use lithium-ion batteries, which are sensitive to high temperatures. When exposed to high temperatures, an uncontrolled self-ignition can occur. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.Fire Risks Associated with Energy Storage Systems (ESS) ESS will be necessary to supplement the direct grid electrical supply and accommodate a large demand for EV charging. The primary risk of these systems is damage or overheating from an internal fault that could cause a fire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.How Can Electric Vehicle Owners Mitigate Fire Risks? The U.S. Fire Administration recommends the following tips for owners of electric vehicles to follow in order to reduce the risk of fire. A. “Follow manufacturer’s guidelines when charging your vehicle. Check with your local dealer if you need additional information. B.Purchase a charging device that is certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory. C.Plug Level 1 EV chargers directly into an outlet designed to handle the amperage of the charging device. Never use a multiplug adapter or extension cord. D.Install a residual current device with the charging unit. It will turn off the power if a fault is detected and help prevent a fire. E.Place all charging device components out of reach of children when not in use. F.Maintain the components of your charging station according to the manufacturer’s maintenance guidelines. Signs of excessive wear may indicate a potential G.shock hazard. Never use an EV charger with obvious signs of damage. H.Cover the EV charging station outlet to stop water from entering. Check the manufacturer’s guidelines to make sure it is safe to charge your EV in wet conditions.” https://www.vfsfire.com/electric-vehicle-charging-stations-and-fire-risk/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTRIC CARS HAVE ONE PROBLEM: THEY KEEP LIGHTING PEOPLE'S HOUSES ON FIRE: Numerous carmakers have recalled their electric vehicles over the risk of them spontaneously catching fire while charging inside owners' garages, The Washington Post reports. It's a troubling development for a technology that's meant to banish gas-guzzling internal combustion engines from public roadways once and for all — though, to be clear, electric cars are still largely safe and much better for the environment. Electric vehicles don’t catch fire often, but when they do, things get spicy. How do these fires start? And why are they so hard to extinguish? There are scientists trying to answer these questions, but there are also scientists still trying to figure out what actually happens (chemically) when a lithium-ion battery catches fire. Can we solve this problem without fully understanding what’s going on?https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/04/tesla-fire/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, how do these fires start and why are they so hard to put out?To understand that, we can start by looking inside this nine-volt battery.

Turns out a nine-volt isn’t one battery. It’s actually six batteries. These individual batteries are called cells and an EV battery is the same.It’s made of hundreds or thousands of cells like this one or this one, or even bigger ones that I couldn’t buy online for some reason.A battery fire like this one starts in a single cell via a chemical process called thermal runaway. We actually have x-ray footage of this happening shot at thousands of frames per second. This is the top of a cell similar to this one. Top nub thingy. Steel outer casing. The bright lines are metal oxides and copper. The dark parts are plastics and aluminum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, a closeup shot of the battery that’s shot even slower.So, gas is building up here, which you can’t see directly, but it is shifting the internal componentThis thing right here, this is a pressure release valve, and, right now, it is rupturing, which should prevent an explosion by relieving the pressure, but watch this.Gas buildup pushes the internal components of the battery upward, blocking the valve ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With nowhere to vent, more and more gas keeps building up and everything gets hotter and hotter and hotter, which stretches the steel outer casing to its breaking point until it fails and you get an explosion.This is the aftermath. Complete devastation.These white globs, this is molten copper. Copper melts at 1,085 degrees Celsius, so, inside this battery, you’ve got temperatures about as hot as a steel forge.Now, if one cell thermally runs away, it can heat the surrounding cells to the point that they do too, and you got a chain reaction and it spreads to even more surrounding cells, and, pretty soon, you’ve got a massive battery fire ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are groups of scientists and engineers trying to solve this problem, but there are also scientists just trying to figure out what’s actually happening chemically when a lithium battery catches fire. Because even after a few decades, we don’t fully understand it yet. So, what do we know, and can we solve this problem without fully understanding what’s going on, https://scitechdaily.com/what-makes-electric-vehicle-fires-so-difficult-to-extinguish-video/