Electrical automobile fires are uncommon, however they rapidly make headlines because of the new expertise and ongoing public schooling about EV security. A current incident that caught our consideration concerned three Rivian Amazon Electrical Supply Vans (EDVs) bursting into flames at an Amazon achievement middle in Houston, Texas, this week.
For starters, Amazon is utilizing 1000’s of EDVs made by Rivian to chop its emissions. The fleet is rapidly increasing and so they’re already everywhere in the U.S. The footage of the EDVs catching hearth was captured by drone operator Third Coast Drone on July 1 and first reported by Gizmodo.
Hearth security in EVs.
EV batteries have a number of built-in safeguards to keep away from fires, like insulators and flame-retardant components. Most licensed batteries that main automakers use endure extreme thermal stress exams. However that does not imply issues cannot go unsuitable. Irregular charging, excessive warmth and harm to battery packs can all trigger fires.
Within the video above, you’ll be able to see a big car parking zone with tens of EDVs and a few are plugged in for charging. The utmost temperature that day had reached virtually 100 levels Fahrenheit because the scorching summer season warmth wave continues to have an effect on a number of U.S. states.
The drone operator noticed plumes of poisonous black smoke rising in direction of the sky from one Rivian EDV first after which the hearth unfold to 2 different EDVs parked adjoining.
“We’re conscious of the incident and are investigating the scenario,” a Rivian spokesperson informed InsideEVs. “There have been no accidents. As we’re gathering data, it’s too quickly to say what might need induced this thermal occasion.”
“We’re grateful nobody was injured and are grateful for the Houston Hearth Division’s speedy response,” Amazon mentioned in an announcement. “We’re working with a third-party investigator and specialists from Rivian to analyze and are usually not going to invest, so we received’t be sharing further particulars till we’re assured within the details.”
Some fast security precautions have additionally been taken on the website. The chargers linked to the broken circuit panel board have all been turned off. Amazon electrical engineers and a high-voltage specialist decided that the remainder of the chargers on the website had been secure to make use of.
Research have proven that EVs catch hearth quite a bit much less in comparison with combustion engine autos. Within the uncommon cases after they do, the fires are dramatic and excruciatingly tough to douse. That’s partially as a result of the lithium-ion battery is extraordinarily flammable.
“There have been a couple of autos impacted by the incident, however the thermal occasion propagated from the supply to surrounding autos,” Rivian mentioned. “This automobile was plugged into the charger, nevertheless it was not charging when the incident occurred. The HV battery was not the initiator of the incident,” the spokesperson added.
Within the video above, you’ll be able to see firefighters struggling to extinguish the flames, nevertheless it continues to rage on, showcasing the challenges first responders face as a result of thermal runaway—a phenomenon the place lithium-ion battery cells enter an uncontrollable, self-heating and oxygen-creating state and the pack continues to reignite till there’s nothing left to burn.
Fashionable-day lithium-ion batteries have come a good distance by way of hearth security. The U.S. doesn’t appear to have a repository of EV-related hearth incidents, however Norway discovered that ICE-powered autos are 4 to 5 occasions extra possible to catch fires. One other examine in Sweden discovered that each one non-EV gasoline sorts produced 68 fires per 100,000 autos in comparison with 3.8 fires per 100,000 autos for EVs.
That does not imply issues cannot go terribly unsuitable. Utilizing non-certified batteries, irregular charging patterns, harm to the battery pack and excessive warmth have all been linked to fires in EVs.
