DETROIT (AP) – Fires with electric vehicles pose safety risks to first responders and according to U.S. investigators, manufacturers’ guidelines on how to deal with them are inadequate.
There are also gaps in safety standards in the industry and research on high-voltage lithium-ion battery fires, especially in high-speed, serious accidents, the National Transportation Safety Council said on Wednesday.
The agency, which has no enforcement powers and can only make recommendations, has called on manufacturers to write vehicle-specific response guides for combating battery fires and limiting chemical thermal runaway and reignition. 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 rolling out several new models for electric vehicles, while many in the industry have a turning point to switch from petrol power to cleaner electricity.
In its Wednesday report, the agency also asked fire and car tow associations to inform members about fire hazards and how to deal with energy left in the battery after an accident, and how to safely repair a vehicle with a damaged battery. mountain.
And it asks the National Road Safety Administration to include the availability of an emergency response guide when calculating five-star vehicle safety figures.
NHTSA must also build a coalition to investigate ways to disconnect batteries and reduce the dangers of thermal leakage, a chemical reaction that causes uncontrolled battery temperature and pressure rises.
The NTSB has investigated battery fires following accidents and fires in Lake Forest and Mountain View, California, and in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in 2017 and 2018. It also investigated a fire in West Hollywood, California. Three of the batteries came up again after fires were extinguished.
All four vehicles are manufactured by Tesla, which is the top selling manufacturer of electric vehicles in the USA
“The risks of electric shock and the ignition of the batteries arise due to the ‘stranded’ energy remaining 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 garage at high speed. Thomas Barth, an NTSB engineer and highway researcher, said in a video of the agency that firefighters spilled thousands of gallons of water on the roof of the vehicle. “They did not realize that they had to direct water to the battery room under the car to cool the battery and stop the reaction that caused the fire,” he said.
In an 80-page report, the NTSB writes that a review of 36 guidelines’ emergency response guidelines found that all had ways to reduce the risk of high-voltage shocks, including methods to disconnect the battery. But none of the guides talked about limiting the risk of energy stored in the batteries, such as procedures to minimize reignition or instructions on where and how to spray water to cool the batteries, the agency said. .
One way to handle damaged batteries is to remove them from the vehicle and soak them in a salt water bath to discharge the energy, the NTSB wrote.
The National Fire Protection Association, which provides training to first responders and towing companies, said it had already addressed most of the NTSB recommendations. Andrew Klock, general manager of emerging issues, says the group offered training on how to put out battery fires, then lift vehicles and extinguish the batteries with water to curb the government.
The NFPA 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 the growing concern about battery-powered electric vehicle and structural fires. According to the initiative, the agency will analyze data, investigate fires and oversee investigations into accidents on electric vehicles, the agency said.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a major commercial manufacturing group for automakers, said it would review the recommendations and work with fire associations, NHTSA, the Association of Automotive Engineers and others to improve safety.
Messages were left Wednesday to comment from Tesla and the National Fire Protection Association.