The danger of an EV car fire in parking garages

More and more people are investing in new, modern EV cars nowadays. In the Netherlands alone, 337.822 people are already driving EV cars (September 2021), and this number is growing fast. The fear of EV cars catching fire, however, is growing too. Some HOA’s (Home Owners Associations) in the Netherlands have even banned electric cars from parking in parking garages under residential complexes as a precaution to prevent EV car fires. But banning electric cars from garages is not exactly legal, according to director Kees Oomen (Dutch foundation of HOA).

But if you can’t ban EV cars from garages, what else can you do? We know by now that EV cars pose a significant risk when a fire breaks out. Risks to the building structure, to other vehicles, and to the safety of people. According to researchgate.net and our own live tests, it is very difficult to extinguish an electric vehicle fire, and in addition, large amounts of hydrogen fluoride are released when the lithium-ion battery is burning. Their calculations show that even a fire of a small lithium-ion battery produces an amount of hydrogen fluoride that is hazardous to the health of people near the fire. Even more so in garages, where the smoke cannot escape that easily.

Our solution to control EV car fires in garages

When it comes to controlling EV-car fires, of course, there is not just one solution. But the rising problem of EV-car fires was the reason for us to create the FireIsolator concept. With a lot of experience in Safety in the maritime industry, our team came up with this concept that contains several products to stop EV-car fires in a safe way.

The Key Elements of the FireIsolator consist of several tested and proven elements that, when used together, deliver the best results when fighting EV-fires in car parks or garages:

1. The use of a high temperature resistant car Fire Blanket (up to 1600 degrees C°) in order to take away the oxygen, slowly smothering the fire.
2.  The use of aerosol units, which interrupts the chemical chain reactions occurring in the flames and suppresses the fire resulting in further temperature reduction.
3.  The use of a water mist lance for direct insertion into the battery of the EV car.
   

How does FireIsolater make your garage a safer place?

Of course, our FireIsolator products can’t prevent EV car fires from happening. However, when an EV car catches fire (for instance when they are plugged into a charging station) FireIsolator can help you control the fire quickly. This is very important, especially when the car is next to other EV cars that might catch fire too.

This is why we advise every garage to have at least one FireIsolator kit in storage near EV charging stations. This reusable fire blanket “kills” an EV car fire by eliminating oxygen from the fire source. Dangerous gases and smoke are smothered under the fire blanket, preventing people inside the garage from inhaling toxic smoke.

Any questions?

Are you a garage owner and interested in our products? Or do you have any questions regarding this post? Please feel free to contact us! We are happy to answer any questions you may have.