Property owners and managers are starting to talk about the risks, costs and insurance implications of EV charging stations in underground carparks but there’s another risk that’s bigger – electric light vehicles.
In June, the Australian Building Codes Board issued a set of relatively low-key recommendations supporting the safer installation and use of EV chargers in buildings.
The recommendations emerged from a major piece of research done for ABCB by EV FireSafe, a private company that receives seed funding from the Australian Department of Defence to research EV high voltage battery fires and emergency responses to those fires.
Australia is electrifying and fast. The National Construction Code doesn’t mandate that new buildings have EV chargers but it does stipulate they be ready for chargers. So, it makes sense that any risks associated with EVs, chargers and batteries be assessed.
The advisory note, which contains a set of what the ABCB describes as low-cost, easy to implement measures, has been endorsed by Australia’s building ministers. The measures include providing a master installation switch, providing additional break glass units, and updating block plans to clearly mark the location of charging hubs.
ABCB chief executive Gary Rake said at this stage the recommendations are just that – recommendations, not mandatory regulations.
“The likelihood of an EV battery being involved in a fire is lower than for traditional cars,” said Rake. “If there is evidence of a bigger problem [the recommendations] might be put into law [but] at the moment there just isn’t evidence of that many fires,” he said.
Rake did say that an EV fire is different from a conventional car fire and for that reason the ABCB was working with the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council to “make sure we are all preparing for this adaption”.
EV FireSafe research has verified there were 393 EV battery fires around the world between 2010 and mid this year. Only two of those fires occurred in Australia.
Toxic solution?
To put those figures in perspective, in 2022 alone, there were about 10 million EV sales globally.
Although statistics show conventionally powered cars are far more likely to catch fire than EVs, EV fires can be far more toxic and less predictable and firefighters are rightly concerned about the risks posed to first responders.
For example, battery fires are susceptible to a self-destructive chain reaction known as thermal runaway, causing a feedback loop of rising temperatures. In some cases, even after firefighters have heavily doused a fire with water, batteries have reignited, sometimes more than once.
Reports out of the US show that staggering amounts of water are needed to extinguish some EV fires. In one case, unconnected lithium-ion batteries stored in a warehouse caught fire and exploded in a conflagration that took 300 firefighters and 28 tonnes of cement to extinguish.
Firefighters worried
A position statement from AFAC says there is an increase in the varying levels of hazards and risks faced by first responders and emergency service personnel who attend incidents involving EVs.
“Whilst failure events are currently reported to be occurring at a low frequency, the potential risks that can eventuate from a thermal runaway event may be of high consequence,” it said.
“The increase in the uptake of EV is anticipated to incrementally impact the frequency of failure events.”
It wants fire authorities to be consulted during the planning and design phase for the implementation of EV charging equipment and the introduction of EVs within the built environment.
Among the issues it says must be considered are:
- the location of EV charging stations and their proximity to other vehicles, exits, fire safety systems, building utilities and critical infrastructure. Importantly, it wants open air or external charging points to be preferred ahead of internal charging points
- appropriate fire resistant materials and barriers applied to building elements
- adequacy of space left between cars to prevent fire spreading because of the directional flames that jet in EV fires
- local fire authorities’ ability to contain an EV fire
- potential for contaminated fire-water run-off to pollute local waterways
- provision of remote emergency shutdown controls and/or automatic shutdown for EV charging stations.
The types of special hazards linked to EV fires include the potential for the fire to damage the structural integrity of a building, the potential of fire to expose high voltage DC and AC electricity and the production of toxic and combustible vapour that existing air systems will likely not be able to cope with, and which could lead to explosions.
There is a risk that EV fires could quickly spread, last for protracted periods of time, and lead to secondary ignitions.
Property managers are starting to talk about the risks, costs and insurance implications of EV charging stations in underground carparks.
And it’s all about to get very real for the industry. From October this year the updated NCC will include minimum requirements for new builds for the provision of EV charging stations. For example, all car parks in residential and 20 per cent of car parks in commercial buildings must be provided with EV charging infrastructure.
But wait, there’s more – the problem is not so much cars but with electric micro mobility vehicles
Project director at EV FireSafe, Emma Sutcliffe, says the world does have an EV fire problem “but it’s not cars”.
Sutcliffe says there are now so many light electric vehicle battery fires around the world – that’s e-bikes, e-scooters and e-skateboards – that her data base can’t keep track.
“We’ve verified 36 fatalities directly attributable to LEVs in the first six months of 2023, but [we] suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said in a recent social media post.
“If this trend continues, the number of deaths will at least triple from 2022,” she said.
In that six-month period, there were more than 500 LEV battery fires versus 44 EV fires, and 138 injuries compared with 15 associated with electric car fires.
ABCB’s Rake agreed there appeared to be a greater risk of fire associated with LEV batteries.
“Both EVs and LEVs are modes of transportation but the technology involved is very different and they need to be dealt with separately,” he said.
The implications for strata managers and corporate property managers are significant, especially in light of concerns that many people don’t understand the risks associated with LEVs, especially cheaper versions of scooters and hoverboards.
EVs are often charged outside, posing a lower risk to life and property, and cars tend to have high-quality battery cells and highly protective battery pack casing. They also experience low wear and tear in normal daily use.
In comparison, the risk profile for LEVs is of low-quality cells and casing in some brands, and high wear and tear during normal daily use.
They are usually charged inside homes (increasingly in high-rise apartments). It’s not inconceivable that a home owner would park their LEV just inside their front door and charge it there overnight. Any ensuing fire from a faulty battery could block residents’ escape.
Increasingly, LEV batteries are also being carried into offices to charge or parked in underground car parks, although Rake noted many car park operators are asking LEV owners not to charge them there.