How to control Electric vehicle fires on ferries and car-carriers

You have probably heard about the Felicity Ace, the car-carrying vessel that capsized on March 1st, 2022, and then sunk with thousands of vehicles from the Volkswagen Group onboard. However, this wasn’t the first ferry that got into trouble due to an EV car fire.

Electric vehicle fires on ferries and car-carries

According to the UK Fire magazine, the first electric vehicle battery fire on water happened on the MS Pearl of Scandinavia in November 2010. The official report by the Danish Institute of Fire & Security states the fire originated in the battery pack. Luckily, the fire didn’t spread to other EV’s on the ferry.

Car fires on ferries and car-carries are not that rare, but the reason you haven’t heard of most of them is because these incidents didn’t involve electric vehicles. However, catastrophic fires onboard ferries and car-carrying vessels will probably get more frequent with the growing numbers of electric vehicles around the globe.

Ferries and car-carrying vessels should take measures to control EV fires in case of an emergency

Fires on board of a ferry or car-carrier can simply not be handled the same way as fires on land. Neither can they be handled the same way as ‘normal’ car fires. That is why we at Fire Isolator strongly recommend that ferries and car-carrying vessels take serious precautions.

A fire in the lithium-ion battery of an EV car or hybrid is a serious challenge. The fire is hard to put out and cannot be put out with just water. If the fire occurs on a ferry, the risks are even higher, because cars are usually parked close to each other.

To make sure the EV car fire on a ferry doesn’t spread, we suggest all ferries and car-carriers to use our Fire Isolator products.

Our solution to control EV car fires on ships

With a lot of experience in Safety in the maritime industry with our other company T-ISS, our team came up with a concept that contains several products to stop EV-car fires in a safe way. This is how Fire Isolator was born.

The Key Elements of the Fire Isolator  concept consist of several tested and proven elements that, when used together, deliver the best results when fighting EV fires on ferries or car-carriers:

1. The use of a high-temperature resistant car Fire Blanket (up to 1600 degrees C°, tested according to ISO EN 13501-1) in order to take away the oxygen, slowly smothering the fire an making sure the fire doesn’t spread to other vehicles on board.
   
   
2.  The use of aerosol units to interrupt the chemical chain reactions occurring in the flames and suppressing 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, but also to wet the Fire Blanket so the aerosol units will perform even better.

Make your ferry or car-carrying vessel a safer place with Fire Isolator

Of course, our Fire Isolator concept can’t prevent EV cars from catching fire. But when they do, Fire Isolator 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 way you can contain the fire and make sure it doesn’t spread, avoiding a huge problem for the entire ferry.