How to control and isolate an EV charging station fire
An EV charging station, also known as a charge point or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a station with charging poles that supplies electrical power for charging plug-in electric vehicles. At these stations, car batteries can be charged. For logistic and customer-friendly reasons, these charging poles are usually placed next to each other in garages or parking lots. So, whether the EV charging station is in a garage or above ground, electric vehicles are often close to one another. This is not a problem as long as no incidents occur. But when one of the electric vehicles catches fire, it causes great danger to the other EV cars and the charging station itself.
How an EV charging station fire occurs
With more and more EV car charging stations all over the world, the risks of an EV charging station fire increases as well. The safety and security of these charging stations often depends on the quality of the wiring and the competency of the installers. But even properly installed charging stations can malfunction, causing a fire in one of the EV cars while being charged.
Many lithium-ion battery fires occur during charging because cells overheat when there’s a defect in the battery. We know by now that EV cars pose a significant risk when a fire breaks out. In the case of an EV charging station fire, there’s an even bigger risk to this fire, because it could spread to other EV cars and charging poles.
What to do about an EV charging station fire?
When it comes to controlling EV charging station fires, there is not simply one solution. But the rising problem of EV-car fires was the reason for us to create the Fire Isolator 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 Fire Isolator consist of several tested and proven elements that, when used together, deliver the best results when fighting EV-fires in car parks or garages:
- 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.
- The use of aerosol units, which interrupts the chemical chain reactions occurring in the flames and suppresses the fire resulting in further temperature reduction.
- The use of a water mist lance for direct insertion into the battery of the EV car.
Read more about our Key elements here.
How does FireIsolator make your charging stations a safer place?
Of course, the FireIsolator products can’t prevent EV car fires from happening. Especially in charging stations, there is a higher risk of a fire starting in the lithium-ion battery. So incase a fire does occur in your EV charging station, FireIsolator will help you control the fire quickly and, also very important, make sure the fire doesn’t spread to other EV cars or loading poles.
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.
Our Fire Isolator products are also available at T-ISS.