NFPA Journal - January/February 2020 - 38

Two years ago, there were 3.1 million EVs worldwide, according to the
International Energy Agency; by 2030,
the IEA estimates the number will be
130 million. The market investment
firm JP Morgan predicts that by 2025,
about one in three vehicles sold across
the world will be either hybrid or fully
electric. The percentage of pure internal combustion engine vehicles, which
have accounted for well over 90 percent
of vehicles sold since the dawn of the
automotive age, will drop sharply-to
a 70 percent market share by 2025
and 40 percent by 2030, JP Morgan
estimates.
Production of lithium-ion batteries
overall is expected to follow a similar trajectory. The firm LG Economic
Research Institute estimates that
between 2017 to 2022, there will be
an eightfold increase in production of
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries of all
kinds, as well as a 55 percent increase
in deployments over that time.
However, cases of stranded energy
are still novel enough that most people
outside of the battery industry are
largely unfamiliar with the challenges
it poses for responders and others-
including a majority of those working
within emergency response. Likewise,
few studies have been conducted that
address stranded energy in any comprehensive way, though that may soon
change. At least three major projects on
the topic are now nearing completion
(see "Research Powered," page 35).
The research will likely inform the
development of new battery and vehicle
standards, as well as additional training
programs for responders. Since 2012,
NFPA has offered online alternative
fuel vehicles safety training for first and
second emergency responders, which
covers best practices, tools, and information required to safely handle these
incidents. According to NFPA estimates,
roughly 250,000 of the 1.1 million firefighters in the US have received the
training, which is periodically updated
as more information is gathered.
Last spring, in an empty parking
lot in Covington, Georgia, NFPA, the
California Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection (CalFire), Tesla, and a
company called Advanced Extraction

38 | NFPA JOURNAL * J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0

took part in a live burn of a Tesla vehicle. The event was an opportunity for
firefighters to train and for researchers
to gain new insights. Observations from
the burn resulted in updates to the
NFPA EV training program, which will
be available early next year, according
to program manager Andrew Klock.
The new material will include information on the optional tactic used in
Fremont of propping the vehicle up on
its side to expose the underside of the
battery to water, which proved effective
at the live training. Another observation, Klock said, was that newer EVs,
like the one burned in Georgia, might
require firefighters to use even more
water than previously recommended to
make sure a battery fire is fully extinguished. Whereas previous generations
of Tesla batteries had a maximum
energy capacity of 75 kWh, newer vehicles now on the market have options
for batteries of up to 100 kWh, which
allow them to travel up to 360 miles on
a single charge. "With the additional
energy in these batteries, we found that
it took more water than in previous
tests to ensure that the fire was extinguished," Klock said.
The current training, as well as emergency field guides, emergency response
guides, and safety bulletins for specific
scenarios such as responding to a
submerged EV, are available online at
evsafetytraining.org.
In addition to building more powerful batteries, EV manufacturers
have also been updating the design of
their vehicles with first responders in
mind-but there is still work to be done
in this area. Most EV models now have
an emergency cut loop, which allows
responders to cut power from the main
battery to the rest of the vehicle in
case of a crash. The location of these
cut loops varies from model to model,
however, and standardization would
greatly benefit responders, Wilson said.
Three-sided badging to help responders quickly identify that the vehicle is
an electric or hybrid is also becoming
more common, but also not standardized. In addition, high-voltage lines in
all EVs have been colored orange to
warn responders not to touch them,
and almost all manufacturers publish

emergency response guides with
detailed instructions on the locations of
the cut switch, high-voltage lines, and
other critical information.
At least one EV manufacturer has
also recently made a significant design
change that allows responders clear
access to the battery with their hoses.
After conducting several tests with
firefighters, French auto maker Renault
added what it calls a "firefighting
access" consisting of two heat-sensitive
panels opposite each other on the chassis side and the battery side. During
a fire, the panels melt away, allowing
direct access to the underlying battery.
Experts hope that the research
being conducted now, as well as the
innovations and standards that will
spring from it, will inform not only first
response and the automotive sector,
but dozens of other industries impacted
by stranded energy as batteries become
more ubiquitous in nearly every facet
of modern life. Karner is confident that
safety institutions like NFPA, the Society of Automotive Engineers, as well as
the manufacturers themselves, are up
for the challenge.
"It's a bit overwhelming when you
just look at the breadth of it, but there
is no doubt in my mind that at each
step along the way, with each organization involved, we will have good
technical solutions to the issues that
arise," he said.
For Diaz, electric vehicles and energy
storage are just the next thing in a
never-ending cycle for the fire service-
technical advancement breeds new
challenges, which are eventually dealt
with and overcome. His department, in
the thick of it, knows that better than
any other.
"It's just a case of the fire service
playing catch-up to the modern world,
just like we did back in the 1970s and
1980s with the computer and semiconductor industries," he said. "We live
in the heart of innovation-I mean,
we've got self-driving cars all over my
city right now. And we embrace this
technology. We are not against it. We
think being here is exciting. But it's not
without its challenges."
JESSE ROMAN is associate editor of NFPA Journal.
http://www.evsafetytraining.org
NFPA Journal - January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2020
