You can have a water sprinkler system in a car park. It might not extinguish the fire but it should stop it spreading.
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[News] Luton Airport fire
- Thread starter Thunder Bolt
- Start date
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
- Thread starter
- #42
Flights now resumed.
Brok
🦡
- Dec 26, 2011
- 4,373
I always thought water was the last thing to put on a petrol fire. It doesn't stop it, it just spreads it out more.
swindonseagull
Well-known member
Luckily my EV is parked at Gatwick
As I understand it, car fires normally start with an electrical fault, spread to the seats and plastic interiors and only once they’ve really got going is the fuel at risk of igniting.
With a sprinkler system it should have operated before the fuel is involved. This will drench the surrounding area so that if the fuel tank does go up it’s much less likely to set another car on fire.
HillBarnTillIDie
Active member
- Jul 2, 2011
- 106
The main concern for me is that we have car parks not suitably designed for an EV fire or legislation to prevent a major incident occurring.
In German they have banned the parking of EV vehicles on lower levels especially basement levels.
If a EV vehicle was to catch fire in the basement of a car park, the spread to other vehicles would be rapid.
Inclosed side walls means the heat would be retained and so intense that no fire fighting method would efficiently bring it under control. The car park is basically now an oven cooking the structure… next… collapse.
In German they have banned the parking of EV vehicles on lower levels especially basement levels.
If a EV vehicle was to catch fire in the basement of a car park, the spread to other vehicles would be rapid.
Inclosed side walls means the heat would be retained and so intense that no fire fighting method would efficiently bring it under control. The car park is basically now an oven cooking the structure… next… collapse.
Can you provide anything to back up this post, because it seemed unlikely, and on checking, appears to be entirely untrue.
Video backfires with claimed German electric car fire
Social media posts miss the mark factually in an attempt to highlight problems with electric vehicles.
www.aap.com.au
The car park is less than 5 years old, It was advised but ignored apparently. No doubt, it would have an impact on investment return and profit, which was probably 2 years ago.
looks like a meccano carpark to me. Little wonder the fire spread so quickly being open, and it collapsed when it warmed up/melted
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Given this one seems to have started from an ICE vehicle, why are EVs more of a concern for you ?
Also, I thought the general move was to have EVs parked on lower levels due to their significant additional weight which hasn’t been accounted for in car park design ?
Horses Arse
Well-known member
Interesting stuff, social media means very little can be trusted these days, hence boris, Donald, brexit etcCan you provide anything to back up this post, because it seemed unlikely, and on checking, appears to be entirely untrue.
Video backfires with claimed German electric car fire
Social media posts miss the mark factually in an attempt to highlight problems with electric vehicles.
The following explanation for the temporary ban was interesting, not sure if that's necessarily true either though. Can't stop the electrical charge but surely you can extinguish the fire
“In future, electric and hybrid cars will no longer be allowed to park in the underground car park. The fire brigade cannot extinguish such vehicles, they have to let them burn out."
Cost and space for a tank are the most likely reasons. You’d think that for business continuity reasons of running an airport that they’d choose to sprinkler it.
The guidance on car park design in relation to fire is completely out of date. It’s based on tests done in about the 1950s. Back then cars were metal boxes and the testing said you wouldn’t get multiple cars on fire at the same time. Now all the electronics and plastics in them create completely different conditions which makes spread from car to car far quicker.
This is a link to a government commissioned paper by Arup. It explains the issue with lithium ion batteries. It is true that you can submerge a lithium ion battery that is on fire in water, pull it out an hour later and it will still burn.Can you provide anything to back up this post, because it seemed unlikely, and on checking, appears to be entirely untrue.
Video backfires with claimed German electric car fire
Social media posts miss the mark factually in an attempt to highlight problems with electric vehicles.
Greg Bobkin
Silver Seagull
- May 22, 2012
- 16,062
A diesel vehicle caught fire and 'the spread to other vehicles' was ALSO rapid. And that car park wasn't 'designed' for ANY type of vehicle fire. And that WAS a major incident. So what's your point?
The bigger issue, IMO, with older car parks and EVs is the extra weight of them and whether the concrete structure could support, say, thousands of them.
- Mar 23, 2023
- 2,134
I thought ev’s were much lighter? No idea!
Greg Bobkin
Silver Seagull
- May 22, 2012
- 16,062
No. A big fack off battery pack (and electric motors and other gubbins) is heavier than the engine it replaces. Another side effect is that tyres don't last as long as they did on ICE cars.
Much heavier. You don’t want to get hit by one in an accident your ICE vehicle
I don't think you really want to get hit by one, in your own EV either!
- Mar 23, 2023
- 2,134
I had no idea
Average battery is about 500kg……..Tesla Model Y battery is over 700kg !