Setting fire to the batteries of the future

There is over 100 years of experience of how a "normal" car behaves when it catches fire – emergency services know how to deal with such fires. The modern electric car has a much shorter history. In other words, there is not as much knowledge about fires caused by – or in – electric vehicles. However, there is an answer to the question of whether electric cars are more likely to catch fire than petrol and diesel cars.  

One in ten chance of an electric car battery fire 

– We now know that the probability of an electric car battery fire is about one-tenth the risk of a conventional vehicle fire. Then there is the fact that battery fires cannot be extinguished, only suppressed and controlled. But overall I would still say that electric vehicles have a lower fire risk than conventional vehicles, says Franz Evegren, Director of the Fire Safe Transport Unit at RISE.  

– Over time, the difficulties in dealing with electric vehicle fires will decrease. Everything is based on the knowledge of everyone from car owners to insurance companies and emergency services, says Claes Winzell, Business Developer at RISE. 

At the RISE Battery Safety Lab in Borås, batteries are exposed to extreme conditions. Companies that develop or use batteries in their products come here to have their batteries tested. How high and low temperatures can batteries endure? How well do they perform when subjected to strong vibrations and shocks?  

In Franz Evegren's department, with its extra-thick concrete walls and steel doors, batteries undergo fire testing. They have found that fires in electric cars are neither more intense nor longer lasting than fires in diesel and petrol cars. However, it is more difficult to extinguish fires in electric cars due to the chemical composition and design of the batteries.

Growing need for environmentally-friendly battery testing 

Increasingly powerful batteries are a prerequisite for electrification and the green transition. This development leads to an increased need for testing. At the moment, the testing capacity matches the demand, says Claes Winzell. But he expects the pressure to increase in the future. Partly because there are new regulations and standards in the pipeline, and partly because in the near future we will see battery storage combined with solar systems in people's homes. In other words, the need for knowledge from testing will not diminish. And when it comes to battery tests that don't have a negative impact on the environment, the supply today is not very large. Franz Evegren: 

– In other organisations, many of these safety-critical tests, especially of larger batteries, are performed outdoors. Our facility is built as an explosion-proof bunker, and we purify water and gases that would otherwise seep into the ground and enter the atmosphere. We are actually unique in the world in this respect and we believe it will become a new standard in battery testing. There have been enough ”black marks from greenification”, trying to go green but at the expense of the environment.   

The advanced and environmentally friendly testing facility is an important resource for companies that take the environmental aspects of their product development seriously, while at the same time wanting to demonstrate to the market that they meet specific requirements.  

– The importance of the laboratory in strengthening the competitiveness of companies should not be underestimated. The automotive industry will develop new types of batteries with better performance, and then you have to test them to make sure you are on the right track, says Claes Winzell.