Newslink December final

Towards your CPD
Continued from page 21
In the US a major recall of the Chevrolet
Volt EV entailed 70,000 vehicles. And what
about hybrid recalls because of battery
problems? There were 27,600 Chrysler
Pacifica vehicles recalled because of fire risk.
And there have been a total of 4,500 vehicles
recalled for batteries being a fire risk among
the following ranges: the BMW 530e,
xDrive30e, Mini Cooper Countryman AII4 SE,
i8, 330e, 745Le xDrive and X5xDrive45e.
Electric car fires
So, although EVs catch fire far less
frequently than hybrid or petrol cars when
they do, it’s a different type of fire due to
lithium-ion batteries, AutoinsuranceEZ
reported. EV fires are significantly harder to
put out, and firefighters need special training
to do so. This is because the lithium-ion
batteries are essentially a fuel source so the
fire can burn for hours and be very difficult for
firefighters to cool down.
Over-charging and high temperatures are
risks for lithium-ion battery fires.
Tips to prevent battery fires in EV vehicles
One of the main triggers for battery fires is
high temperatures. This is of great
importance in countries like Australia, with
extreme summer temperatures. If an EV
battery is exposed to extreme temperatures
– 50 deg C + – then exothermic reactions
On December 7, 2022,
several electric vehicles
being transported by
truck went up in flames
on the M1.
can get triggered and generate more heat.
Also, charging at high temperatures can lead
to a gas generation that can ultimately lead to
the car catching fire.
It is advised to avoid parking in direct
sunlight or leaving your EV in hot
surroundings. Keep batteries in cool, dry
areas with adequate ventilation.
Don’t overcharge: The EV should be
unplugged before the battery is at full
capacity. It is also dangerous for battery
health to leave it completely drained.
Batteries should be charged when they are
between 20-80 per cent capacity.
Damage from the road: Potholes, rocks, or
other debris from the road can be very
dangerous for batteries, with side impacts or
underside punctures posing a great threat.
Damaged batteries should be taken
immediately to a qualified electrician.
Let the EV cool down: Don’t start charging
as soon as the car stops because the
lithium-ion battery is very hot. Let the
system cool down before you plug it in.
Finally: The story goes that a motorist
whose car caught fire, ran to a house and
asked an elderly lady for some water to put
out the fire. The lady replied – “Hot or cold”?
Never leave your Chevy Volt parked upside down ...
Much of the debate around electric vehicles
catching fire stems from 2012, when US
crash investigators were left baffled after
two unattended Chevy Volts caught fire and
burned down garages within weeks of each
other.
A little history is in order. At the time the
NHTSA was putting the Chevy Volt through
crash simulations. In one test, a Volt was
subjected to a side impact and a simulated
roll. The Volt was then placed outside in an
inverted position with a fully charged
battery. Though it is standard practice to
remove the energy in the form of gasoline
from a test vehicle, the Volt was left fully
charged in the inverted position. Days later,
the Volt battery caught fire.
The NHTSA then ordered three batteries
from Chevrolet. They began a series of
impact tests on the independent batteries
outside of the vehicles. The first battery
produced no thermal action. The second and
third caught fire. A report was released to the
public and within weeks two garage fires
were reported simultaneously, one in
Connecticut and one in North Carolina. It
would be reported months later after a
thorough investigation that neither of the
Volts nor the EVSEs was deemed responsible
for the fires, but the media damage was done
and the narrative began that EVs are
susceptible to catch fire.
So, which vehicle is more likely to catch
fire, and are their fires equal? Maybe the
closest we have to an answer is data
provided by Steven Risser, senior leader for
Battelle, a non-profit research and
development firm, and one of the leading
experts on the risk of fires in electric
vehicles.
Steven said: “The propensity and severity
of fires and explosions from lithium-ion
battery systems are somewhat comparable
to or perhaps slightly less than those for
gasoline or diesel fuels, according to an
in-depth investigation in 2017.”
Tesla claims that gasoline powered cars
are about 11 times more likely to catch fire
than one of its cars, and it can back that stat
up: its 500,000 EVs produced globally have
covered accumulative 10 billion EV miles, and
according to Elon Musk, there have been just
five fires per billion miles for Tesla. Most Tesla
fires occur after high-speed violent crashes.
It’s also worth noting that the number of
Tesla fires have been reduced since it added
additional metal plating to protect the
battery. Steven Risser added that a little
more data is needed but for the time being, it
appears that time and data are tracking in
EVs’ favour.
When so-called legacy manufacturers
reach a point where their profits depend on
EV sales, then maybe we will get the rest of
the data that EV enthusiasts suspect: that
this has been ‘fake news’ from the start.
22 NEWSLINK n DECEMBER 2023