Every summer the chronicles are filled with fires affecting wooded, bushy areas, cultivated or uncultivated land. You may have seen videos of electric cars that catch fire, like the latest news of the Jaguar I-Pace in focus in Florida. These fires are very rare and less frequent, however, than those involving vehicles powered by diesel or petrol.
Speaking of electric vehicles that have caught fire, we mention the fires of bus electrical of which the media in Italy have spoken little. Let’s try to understand what happened, where and why.
Electric vehicle fires
TO Paris two distinct occurred electric vehicle firesmore precisely electric buses, Bluebus of the Bolloré Group. Two episodes in just one month in April 2022 have raised the alarm safety enough to force the RATPthe Paris public transport operator, to temporarily withdraw from the service 149 electric buses produced by the Bluebus brand.
Electric buses on fire in Paris
In the center of Paris they occurred two electric bus fires while they were on duty. The first near the national library of the French capital, while the second on avenue Saint-Germain, in the center.
In the first case the fire was filmed by the cameras, with the video showing the flames enveloping the electric bus roof, where the batteries are located. Similar dynamics also for the other case, where the burning electric bus was completely destroyed.
Bluebus electric buses are equipped with 441 kWh lithium metal polymer (LMP) batterieswhich offer an autonomy of approx 320 km. The batteries are located on the roof and rear of the bus.
After the fires, 149 electric Bluebus buses were stopped as a precaution. The RATP, the Paris public transport operator in its fleet of 4,700 vehicles can count well 500 electric busessupplied by Bolloré, Alstom and Heuliez Bus of CNH.
Electric buses on fire in Germany
L’electric bus fire alarm it also came from Germanywith 3 distinct cases, including the one that involved a deposit of Stuttgart where they went 25 buses on fireof which two electric tractionenough to induce the Munich transport company (MVG) to take out such electric vehicles as a precaution. News from a couple of years ago, 2021.
What happened?
In the deposit of Stuttgart they were on fire 25 buses of which 2 were electric, one of which caused the fire. In Germany the case has been much discussed especially in the search for causeswhat who and what generated the flames that destroyed a fleet of electric buses.
What is certain is that the fire has developed while one of the electric buses was charging and that the cause is due to a technical defect. The investigators came to this conclusion after checking the data of the fire alarm system and associated temperature sensors.
Electric buses in fire Hannover and Düsseldorf
Stuttgart was not an isolated case because another occurred in Germany in the same year fire in a bus depot to Hanover. The flames have destroyed five electric buses, two hybrid buses, a diesel bus and a touring bus.
The lithium batteries of burning electric buses accounted for one demanding challenge for firefighters, as they were difficult to tame. The e-bus they were then withdrawn from service.
Similar dynamics also in the deposit of the Rheinbahn in Düsseldorf, with 38 buses destroyed by fire. Among them were 8 electric vehicles which at the time of the fire were recharging.
Recalls lithium batteries
The technology goes on: the problems that caused the electric bus fires have been identified with the appropriate modifications applied to the lithium battery system and charging system. All the other electric buses in circulation have been recalled and updated.
Electric bus
There are many in circulation in Europe fully electric buses. Only the manufacturer Karsan has a large fleet of over 200 electric vehicles in service in 30 European cities. These buses, 8 meters long, have a 230 kW and 2,500 Nm electric motor torque with 5 batteries of 44 kWh developed by BMWfor a total capacity of 220 kWh which recharge in 5 hours in AC and 3 hours in DC.
Lithium batteries fire
About lithium battery firesa conference on the safety of “Lithium-ion batteries “on 7 October 2022 in Gorizia, of which we will soon give separate news.
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