Firefighting and science: Electric vehicle battery fire

Рет қаралды 6,944

3 жыл бұрын

In this video I am walking through reports and knowledge about extinguishing lithium ion batterys in vehicles. I have from this knowledge suggested methods to handle this kind of fires depending on where in the vehicle the fire is and where the vehicle is. The video is made in cooperation with Uppsala Fire Brigade.
I got a response that the parts where I am talking about cooling of the battery is wrong. Brock Archer is making some good arguments. Look at that here: • Video
One observation I have made is that most manufacturers, except Renault, in their advice to firefighters are either wrong or to vague to be of any help. There might be more companys than Renault that have good advice, please enlighten me about that if you know any. po@utkiken.net
The short version of the video is that you need to get a wet extinguishing agent inside the battery housing to be able to stop the propagation of the thermal runaway and thereby stopping the fire in the battery. If you cant get wet stuff into the casing, and the battery is burning, then I think it is better to protect exposures and let the battery burn out. Of course there is always occasions when this does not apply so dont take my advice as something that should always be done. A good commander with knowledge about battery fires, tactics, health and safety etc is vital to understand the situation and make good calls.
This video was recorded in september 2020 and since it is a fast evolving area of expertise you must be aware that there is an expiration date on what I say. Maybe not the science behind it, but the interpretation of the science.
I would very much appreciate your thoughts and questions on the video. Also let me know if you disagree with my conclusions. I am eager to learn if you have any other inputs that could help us make safe and efficient operations on battery electric vehicle. Email me at po@utkiken.net

Пікірлер: 13

@johnleeinslc 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the important information. As a new volunteer firefighter and EV owner, i hope to help our department come up to speed on EV fires so we can handle the EV fire that will eventually occur in our district. I hope our department can get a penetrating nozzle.

@mattmurphy3510 3 жыл бұрын

Very interesting presentation. Highlights some very real, and perhaps unrealised hazards of Li Ion battery fires, particularly those involving electric vehicles.

@UtkikenRescue 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Matt. Yes, we have a lot to learn on this topic. I had the opportunity to burn several brand new, highly charged batteries this last month. There was a lot of good learning that I will make another video about after the summer. One interesting thing is that I could stop the propagation of the thermal runaway by adding 10 gallons of water with a low flow into a battery pack that had been burning for 10 minutes. Another one is that a fire blanket actually is very effective in limiting the amount of smoke that is produced, even though the thermal runaway keeps going under the blanket. This was a high temp fire blanket, but still.

@PaulCoatesTrailRunning 2 жыл бұрын

Love this video. So well developed and put across

@AndersTreweOriginal 3 жыл бұрын

Hi, would be great if you could put the references as links in the description field :-)

@UtkikenRescue 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Anders, As I stated above, I am a lousy KZfaqr that am not used to responding to the comments here. Sorry about that! Your suggestion is an excellent idea that I will do.

@jeffb1328 3 жыл бұрын

Hi, do you have the same video but with the slides in English?

@UtkikenRescue 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Jeff, Sorry for not responding earlier. I am a lousy KZfaqr and apologize for that. Unfortunately I dont, but I will be happy to help you with translations if that is of any help. email me at po@utkiken.net and I promise to answer faster than I did on your question here.

@jensdenk9235 Жыл бұрын

Most people forget that many EVs are built with many aluminum and alloy parts, to save weight. If you look at the famous high speed crash fire in the USA, the only thing left of the body was the steel parts of the C pillars. The rest of the aluminum was consumed in the fire. So perhaps water is ok when the fire starts or the battery is smouldering, but when there are flames everywhere I would still be cautious not to apply water on any modern vehicle, ICE or EV. IMO

@perolamalmquist9043 Жыл бұрын

That is right that you must be careful. Like all firefighting there are different situations that require different ways of dealing with them. In some cases this will be a good way to finish the fire off quickly and in some cases it is not a good thing.