Performance-Based Analysis in Evaluation of Safety in Car Parks under Electric Vehicle Fire Conditions

Abstract

Even though electric vehicles (EV) were invented over a century ago, their popularity has grown significantly within the last 10 years due to the development of Li-ion battery technology. This evolution created an increase in the fire risk and hazards associated with this type of high-energy battery. This review focuses on lessons learned from electric vehicle fires and fire risk mitigation measures for passenger road vehicles partially or fully powered by Li-ion batteries. The paper presents EV fire risks, as well as historical car fires, published large-scale fire tests, and some proposed fire protection strategies in the aspect of electromobility safety for the future. Technical solutions for EV fire hazard mitigation are discussed, and methods of performance-based analysis and simulations for fire safety in car park evaluation are demonstrated. The Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) was used for the CFD simulations for the prediction of smoke dispersion and temperature distribution during an EV fire. The presented case study demonstrates how fire simulations could predict conditions for the safe evacuation of people and Fire Brigade intervention conditions in the case of an EV fire in a car park.