Electric vehicle (EV) fires pose a major safety threat to first responders, and US guidelines to deal with them are largely incomplete at this point, further exacerbating the issue, said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday.
The safety regulator said there are gaps in research regarding EV industry safety standards, especially with high-speed crashes, according to Market Watch.
The agency does not have any enforcement powers and can only make suggestions, though it recently called for manufacturers to write response guidelines for specific vehicles. This would help them understand how to fight specific battery fires, and limit reignition or chemical thermal runaway, while also helping understand how to store damaged lithium-ion batteries.
Tesla Owner Recounts Model S Catching Fire in Interview https://t.co/r3kI2n575P
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) December 28, 2020
The agency said, “The risks of electric shock and battery reignition/fire arise from the ‘stranded’ energy that remains in a damaged battery.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently launched a battery safety initiative in order to learn more about the potential dangers of EV batteries.
As for Tesla, the company’s website says it “is committed to helping fire departments and first responders safely handle emergency situations involving Tesla vehicles. Emergency disconnects are available to safely de-energize the vehicle when extraction is necessary to rescue passengers.”
There are emergency response guides on Tesla’s website publicly available, covering its entire vehicle line up, plus Superchargers, Solar Roof and Energy storage products.
As more EVs arrive onto the world scene, these agencies will continually have to learn how to combat dangerous EV battery fires in the future. And hopefully with the NHTSA’s battery safety initiative and continued learning about EVs, we’ll continue forward into a safer, lower-emission world.
