{"id":20594,"date":"2024-09-18T00:57:33","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T04:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=20594"},"modified":"2024-09-18T00:57:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T04:57:34","slug":"how-the-auto-industry-is-tackling-electric-vehicle-fire-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2024\/09\/18\/how-the-auto-industry-is-tackling-electric-vehicle-fire-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Auto Industry is Tackling Electric Vehicle Fire Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Incident and Policy Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, a Mercedes Benz EQE 350 electric vehicle caught fire in a South Korean apartment building\u2019s underground parking garage. Reportedly, 23 people were sent to the hospital and approximately 900 cars were damaged\u2026 The incident led to a series of swift policy changes in the country, including the acceleration of a planned EV battery certification program and new rules in Seoul that should prevent owners from ‘overcharging’ their vehicles in underground parking garages (Marshall, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Battery Manufacturing and Fire Risk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand why battery manufacturing matters to fire risk, you have to understand the basics of lithium-ion batteries\u2026 If, say, a tiny particle of metal gets into that electrolyte through an unclean manufacturing process\u2026 it could create a spark, open the battery cell, and allow oxygen to come rushing in and possibly expose the entire battery pack to fire\u2026 Through solid manufacturing processes, ‘one can never make the risk of fire absolutely zero, but good companies have minimized the risk,’ says Srinivasan (Marshall, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advancements in Safer Batteries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter lithium-iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries. LFP batteries enter thermal runaway at higher temperatures\u2026 They\u2019re also slower to degrade than other chemistries. And, finally, the powerful advantage from automakers\u2019 point of view: They\u2019re cheaper to make. Many automakers have shifted towards LFP batteries. Tesla Models 3 and Y purchased in the US after 2022 have them, and so do Rivians and Fords (Marshall, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Future of Fire Safety and Firefighting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, fire groups are focused on preparing firefighters and other first responders for the unique aspects of lithium-ion battery fires\u2026 Earlier this year, the southern Australia state of New South Wales required firefighters to take online electric vehicle fire training\u2026 Firefighters could also use some help from manufacturers to prevent out-of-control blazes, says Emma Sutcliffe\u2026 Other automakers make it easy for firefighters to cut a battery\u2019s power to other parts of the vehicle (Marshall, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Potential of Solid-State Batteries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true technological hero of less fire-y batteries is just over the horizon: solid state\u2026 For years, automakers and battery developers have hyped the prospect of solid-state batteries, but they have yet to show up in production cars. The good news is that solid-state batteries are performing better than ever\u2026 The bad news is that the great performances are happening in the lab (Marshall, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Although electric vehicles catch fire less often than traditional fossil-fuel cars, it is still nice to see that we can reduce this possibility even further. Lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries and other more recent battery chemistries are less likely to catch fire or have thermal runaway. My takeaway from this article is that you should never overlook the risks and dangers, even if the situation or product seems safe. When it comes to the actual design process, I’ll keep the safety guidelines in mind and consider all kinds of risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Marshall, A. (2024, September 15). The auto industry finally has a plan to stop electric vehicle fires<\/em>. Wired. https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-auto-industry-finally-has-a-plan-to-stop-electric-vehicle-fires\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sundin, M. (2023, May 10). \ud83d\udd25 electric cars catch fire less often than fossil fuel cars<\/em>. Warp News. https:\/\/www.warpnews.org\/transportation\/electric-cars-catch-fire-less-often-than-fossil-fuel-cars\/
    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Incident and Policy Changes Last month, a Mercedes Benz EQE 350 electric vehicle caught fire in a South Korean apartment building\u2019s underground parking garage. Reportedly, 23 people were sent to the hospital and approximately 900 cars were damaged\u2026 The incident led to a series of swift policy changes in the country, including the acceleration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":20603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20618,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20594\/revisions\/20618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}