Though EV fires aren’t necessarily more common than standard car fires, once happened the car burns until there is nothing left but a charred shell.
Also, the lithium-ion batteries can be incredibly tough to cool down. Batteries can be expected to reignite after being put out because they still have stored energy. Although Tesla claims that gasoline-powered cars are about 11 times more likely to catch fire as opposed to a Tesla, the battery in an electric vehicle is not only the fuel to power the vehicle, but is also what fuels an electric vehicle fire.
Lithium-ion batteries have a tendency to overheat and can be damaged at high voltages leading to thermal runaway and combustion. Lithium-ion batteries are subject to aging, with the possibility of losing capacity and fail frequently after a number of years. Overcharging or problems with the charging station are common causes.
There are shock hazards associated with these high-voltage devices around the world.
The video comes from May 8, 2020 and was recorded at a charging station in Dong Guan, China, where an electric car caught fire when being plugged into a charger (seems like a DC fast charger). According to reports, five EVs were affected by the incident (4 severely damaged).
You don’t know, fire hazards may come from vandalism, copper theft, chaffed cables or accidents involving the charging devices or EV’s batteries. Although EV Charging is safe on the whole, accidents did happen again and again…
From July to November 2021, there are 21 fire cases of electric car reported in China, in which 5 cases, or 23.8% are related to charging.
Real-time monitor to regulate charing rate of misbehaved chargers in seconds to prevent overloading.
Once emergency is detected the system may completely cut the power supply to the battery as last resort.
As precaution measure the system will monitor battery health status and ring the bell for dangerous battery.
Real-time around-the-clock monitor for fire hazard takes effect only when the system itself is reliable enough to get the job well done. The PSN-EVC system is developed to this end with the following measures:
Local computation. Very secure control function maintained even without internet or wireless services.
Special Redundancy Design provides duplicated control mechanism. The system never fails itself.
Run with over 30 EV models, 500+ charging sessions and brands of charger with zero failure, zero breaker tripping, zero user complaint and zero failure to charge.
Local computation. Not depend on any wireless communication for cloud services to maintain normal smart charging. Wired communication and Internet-Free operation.
No electrolytic capacitors are used. Special non-e-cap design extends the lifespan of electronic devices and avoid common overheated, ageing or dried capacitor accidents.