As increased environmental concerns move vehicles and machines away from traditional diesel engines, battery electric solutions change the reality of fire suppression
Many worry about fires in the battery packs and it is true that extinguishing a battery fire is very difficult. The chemical reactions happen quickly, and the battery casing makes it very difficult to reach the blaze.
The good news is, it’s rare that a fire starts inside a battery and research presented at the 2023 FIVE conference shows 50-60% of electric vehicle fires never involve the battery at all. Batteries may catch fire because of thermal runaway, but this is rare. There are mainly two reasons for a battery to start burning: collision or an external fire.
No fire suppression system can protect against collisions, but it can protect against external fires reaching the battery pack. A good fire suppression system should target fire initiators to prevent or delay an external fire from affecting the battery, and can reduce flames from the battery in the unlikely event of it being on fire.
Myths, truths, and knowledge-gaps
Recommendations for fire suppression for electrical vehicles and machines used to focus on dry or gaseous agents. This has changed over the last ten years and water is now considered the best option. Water-mist has a better cooling effect than other suppressants.
But, electricity and water is a no-no, right? We’ve all seen the movie where someone is electrocuted by a radio or blow dryer falling into a tub.
Electric vehicles and machines are built to withstand humidity, rain, and road splash. They have a high ingress protection for any high voltage parts. A water-mist system like Fogmaker’s will not penetrate components with an IP-classification of IP66 or higher.
Many still worry about water in an electric compartment leading to people being electrocuted. Fortunately, this is very unlikely. Even besides being constructed to withstand water, the components being protected aren’t in the same compartment as people. You need to be part of the circuit to get current through your body, and that means you need to make physical contact with both the negative and positive terminals. As an example, birds can sit on power lines because they’re not part of the closed circuit.
Last but not least, the Battery Management System has many safety features to protect from dangerous currents.
The Fogmaker System
Fogmaker’s fire suppression system works with a water-based mist where each single drop of water is split into thousands of tiny droplets. Practically, that means that Fogmaker has a great cooling effect, which is imperative when dealing with fires in electric vehicles. The system is tailored to each type, make, model, and energy source since they all have different risk areas.
The Fogmaker system deploys when the compartment reaches a certain temperature. At this point, the water-based mist fills the compartment, displaces oxygen, and chokes the fire. Fogmaker’s pressurized cylinders ensure the system will work regardless of position – even if the vehicle has toppled upside down – and the systems are designed to keep cooling somewhere between 35 and 90 seconds.
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Rebecca Spayne, Managing Editor, International Fire Buyer
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