DETROIT (AP) – Electric vehicle fires pose safety risks to first responders, and manufacturers’ guidelines on how to treat them have been inadequate, according to US investigators.
There are also gaps in industry safety standards and fire research with high-voltage lithium-ion batteries, especially in the event of severe high-speed accidents, the National Transportation Safety Council said on Wednesday.
The Agency, which has no implementing powers and can only make recommendations, has asked manufacturers to draw up vehicle-specific response guidelines to fight battery fires and to limit thermal chemical leakage and renewal. The guidelines should also include information on how to safely store vehicles with damaged lithium-ion batteries.
The recommendations come at a time when carmakers are launching several new models of electric vehicles, with many in the industry perceiving a turning point in the shift from petrol to cleaner electricity.
The agency, in Wednesday’s report, also asked fire and towing associations to inform members about the risks of fire and how to cope with the energy left in the battery after an accident and how to safely store a battery-powered vehicle. damaged.
And calls on the national road safety administration to include the availability of an emergency response guide when calculating the safety scores of five-star vehicles.
The NHTSA should also build a coalition to look at ways to remove batteries from power and reduce the dangers of heat leakage, a chemical reaction that causes the battery to rise uncontrollably and the pressure to rise.
NTSB began investigating battery fires after accidents and fires in Lake Forest and Mountain View, California and in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in 2017 and 2018. It also probed a non-accident fire in West Hollywood, California. Three of the batteries came back on after the fire was extinguished.
All four vehicles were manufactured by Tesla, the best-selling electric vehicle manufacturer in the United States.
“The risks of electric shock and battery recharging / fire come from the ‘blocked’ energy that remains in a damaged battery,” the agency said.
In the August 2017 fire in Lake Forest, a Tesla Model X battery caught fire after the vehicle left a road and crashed into a high-speed residential garage. Thomas Barth, NTSB engineer and highway investigator, said in a video of the agency that firefighters poured thousands of gallons of water on the roof of the vehicle. “They didn’t realize they had to direct water to the battery compartment under the car to cool the battery and stop the fire reaction,” he said.
In an 80-page report, the NTSB wrote that a review of emergency response guidelines from 36 manufacturers found that all had ways to mitigate the risk of high-voltage shocks, including methods of disconnecting the battery. But none of the guides talked about limiting the risk of energy stored in batteries, such as procedures to minimize recharging or instructions on where and how to spray water to cool batteries, the agency said.
One way to deal with damaged batteries is to take them out of the vehicle and soak them in a salt water bath to discharge energy, NTSB wrote.
The National Fire Protection Association, which provides training to first responders and towing companies, said it has already addressed most of the NTSB’s recommendations. Andrew Klock, the chief manager of emerging issues, says the group held training courses on how to extinguish battery fires, then lifted the vehicles and discharged the batteries with water to limit renewal.
The NFPA has trained about 250,000 first responders, but there are 1.2 million firefighters nationwide, Klock said.
In a statement, NHTSA said it had launched a battery safety initiative last week to address growing concerns about fires in electric vehicles and battery-powered structures. As part of the initiative, the agency will analyze the data, investigate fires and supervise investigations into electric vehicle accidents, the agency said.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a major commercial group of automakers, said it would review the recommendations and work with fire associations, NHTSA, the Society of Automotive Engineers and others to improve safety.
The messages were left on Wednesday in search of comments from Tesla and the National Fire Protection Association.