Electric HGV Battery Fire Risks Report

Battery electric HGVs (eHGVs) will play a key role in the move to Zero Emission transport for the freight sector. However the introduction of new technologies also pose new and different types of hazards.​

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Incidents involving electric cars and buses have already shown 

substantial thermal energy being almost impossible to extinguish. As eHGVs have larger battery packs, there is the potential that incidents involving electric HGVs could be more severe.

 

With consideration of control measures in the planning and design of eHGV charging sites, the occurrence and severity of harm from eHGV incidents during charging can be reduced to as low as reasonably practicable.

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BEAT and Syselek wrote this technical report for Connected Places Catapult in response to the early development of eHGV trials. The report draws upon best practices from literature and interviews with experts from academia, emergency responders and operators of EV fleets.

 

This report covers key areas for fire risk assessments:

• Likelihood of eHGV battery fires, and challenges to detect of potential fires.

• Severity of eHGV battery fires, and infrastructure design mitigations.

• Response to eHGV battery fires, site management, and personnel actions.

 

Some of the solutions identified in the include:

• Segregation, separation cordons, and use of fire barriers.

• Early warning solutions with thermal and AI sensors.

• Onboard eHGV alarms and opportunities to connect these to site alarms.

• eHGV cooling, fire control, water management, and isolation.

 

Wider knowledge of eHGV battery fire risks needs to improve. Above all, this report confirms the necessity to perform quantitative fire risk assessments when developing eHGV charging locations.

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