Electric HGV Battery Fire Risks Report

Battery electric HGVs (eHGV) are expected to dominate the zero-emission road freight sector in future, and safety will be paramount. Battery technologies pose new hazards to operators, infrastructure providers, and emergency response services. The risk of fire spreading between parked eHGVs in close proximity, as diesel HGVs are parked today, may escalate an otherwise minor incident.

However, understanding, preventing, and mitigating battery fire risks during the planning and running of eHGV charging locations can achieve acceptable safety levels through emerging best practices for design and operations.

Connected Places Catapult commissioned Syselek, supported by BEAT, to write this technical report. It draws on best practices from literature and expert interviews. 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 this report cover 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.

The authors welcome feedback. For more information, please contact: info@syselek.com