ProSpeed is converting Toyota Hilux pickups to accommodate heavy firefighting equipment. them.
While rare, the clips serve as a reminder that batteries are dangerous.
Last summer, a man was pulled from a burning electric car near Broughton in North Wales and suffered life-changing injuries, according to police.
Such incidents are unusual. A study last year by health and safety consultant CE Safety found that there were 735 electric vehicle fire calls across the UK in the five years to 2017.
This is a small fraction of the 10,000 UK car fires last year, according to the Home Office, with petrol and diesel car fires far more common.
However, this is partly because there are many more petrol and diesel vehicles on the roads. With a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles looming on the horizon in 2030, battery fires will become a more common problem as electric vehicles proliferate.
These fires are notoriously difficult to put out and prevent because they are chemical fires that can re-emerge if battery temperatures are not controlled.
Where there is risk, there is reward, and UK companies are inventing new ways to tackle the growing problem.
Metis Engineering was founded by engineers working on a land speed record attempt by the Bloodhound, which was trying to get a rocket and jet powered car to 1,000 mph but ran out of money.
Their latest product is a £77 matchbox-sized sensor module that can detect the early signs of battery failure.
An electric car battery explosion is difficult to extinguish and prevent. Photo: Eugenio Mereu/SWNS
The project began in the aerospace industry to test the health of batteries in electric aircraft, which gave the pilot precious time to land if problems were discovered.
“One of the key considerations was that it didn't fall out of the sky,” says Metis' Tony Parraman.
In a gasoline and diesel vehicle, opening the hood and looking around can give clues to the condition of the engine. However, a good battery pack and a bad one look the same.
The condition of a battery pack is measured by changes in temperature, the amount of condensation it has withstood, and the number of shocks it has withstood, says Parraman.
Metis Engineering can also detect gas leaks, which is an early sign that a battery may be going into a thermal runaway condition, a condition that causes the temperature to constantly rise and means that bad cells can heat nearby good ones to start a fire.
Sensor data is also useful to tell a used car buyer how badly a battery has suffered, and can help an insurance company decide whether to discard a battery — an expensive decision given their cost.
According to International Energy According to the agency, the cost of batteries is about $150 per kilowatt-hour, which means that a typical battery can cost between £6,000 and £12,000.
A Reuters investigation earlier this year found that battery packs were being thrown away simply because of scratches as insurers don't want to risk leaving defective batteries on the road. Additional data could have prevented such losses, Parraman said.
“I think insurance companies have recognized this potential risk. And we have very early conversations,” he says.
A battery fire can escalate quickly.
The cargo ship Felicity Ace sank 100 km off the coast of the Azores while transporting German electric vehicles to the United States. Photo: PORTUGUESE NAVY
The cargo ship Felicity Ace sank last year while carrying electric vehicles. The fire is believed to have been caused by one electric vehicle catching fire before spreading to the others. Together with the ship, cars worth 400 million dollars sank.
“EVs are getting bigger, [and] the chance of cross-contamination between one car and another is pretty high, so if you have one fire, you get multiple fires,” says Parraman.
In a recent guideline released this month by the Department of Transportation, parking lot operators are advised to install collision protection for charging points, sprinkler systems, thermal imaging cameras, and allow more space between parked cars to prevent one car from turning into hell.Lorne Stoddart, the entrepreneur who created ProSpeed, believes his business can help too.
ProSpeed is retooling Toyota Hilux pickup trucks to carry four times the weight so they can be loaded with heavy firefighting equipment while still being small enough to withstand a fire. Entering a multi-storey or underground car park is not an easy task for most fire trucks.
His modified trucks are equipped with a high-pressure fire suppression system developed by the Swedish company Cold Cut, which uses pressure and abrasives to get to the heat source.
“He will cut through the car, find the battery and flood the battery with water,” Stoddart says. .
“Right now, all the interest we're showing in our product is wildfire,” he says.
Stoddart hopes the purchase will happen before a major incident. Drivers too.
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