TRANSCRIPT
"Here in Australia we've had 11 plugin electric car battery fires nationally ever. That's the total number that we've ever had. These are primarily due to things like high-speed collisions. We've had several where there's been arson attacks and we've had at least three where electric cars have been in a private home garage and there's been another fire that's spread to the vehicle."
Emma Sutcliffe is the Director of E-V FireSafe, a company funded by the Australian Department of Defence to research electric vehicle [[EV]] battery fires and emergency responses.
She says nationally since 2010 there have been 11 road-registered plug-in electric car fires in Australia.
But there has been a significant rise in fires related to lithium-ion batteries, including small lithium-ion batteries.
Ms Sutcliffe says more recently in Perth, four homes were burnt down in the space of 48 hours in July.
"Lithium-ion battery fire is known as thermal runaway and in an electric car you may have hundreds or even thousands of separate lithium-ion battery cells. When ne of those gets damaged, it short circuits and it releases a toxic flammable gas, and that gas ignites and then the heat spreads to the next cell and that cell bursts open and off-gases and ignites, and then that spreads to the next cell."
She says that chain reaction is very hard to stop.
"And once thermal runaway starts, it's very difficult to bring it under control or to stop it. So this is the challenge for firefighters - we can't really stop them or runaway in an electric vehicle very efficiently."
Ms Sutcliffe says the most frequent fire danger from electric vehicles lies with e-bikes and e-scooters, which are known to catch fire nationally at least every two days.
"This is because they're often made with poor quality battery cells. There's not a lot of regulation around how those products are built or sold. They take a lot of wear and tear in daily use. And the other challenge is that people bring their e-bike or their e-scooter into their home at the end of the day when they've come home from work or school and they plug it in their lounge room."
She says when the fires start in people's homes, the consequences are lethal.
"We've had five fatalities here in Australia from e-bike and e-scooter battery fires, and we are losing homes on a scarily regular basis. In fact, in Perth in July, there were four homes lost to e-bike and e scooter battery fires just in the space of 48 hours."
Globally over an 18 month period in 2022 to 2023, four entire families were killed by personal mobility devices [[PMDs]] that caught fire in their homes.
The experts say people don't realise that PMD safety requirements are pretty low compared to EVs and home batteries.
Smaller items like vapes, power tools and power banks catch fire nationally daily.
"Now if your battery pack is looking swollen, if it's unexpectedly hot to touch, so you haven't been charging it or using it, but it feels really hot to touch or if it smells funny, they're some of the early warning signs that that battery may have an issue."
Ms Sutcliffe adds that if someone is experiencing any of those warning signs, then they should take that e-bike or e-scooter out of their home and away from anything flammable.
Gareth Morgan is the Director at E-V Fire Protection.
They developed the World's First Electric Under Vehicle Fire Suppression System.
He tells SBS News it's tricky to rely on statistics of electric vehicle fires.
"The statistics are very difficult to rely on, and that is because the data that's being captured around the world for electric vehicle fires and the difference of fires where those fires originate from, whether they're just a vehicle fire or a traction battery fire, that data's not actually being captured. So it's a very, very grey area."
He echoes similar sentiment as Ms Sutcliffe, saying its infrequent to get a vehicle battery fire.
"One of the big challenges that fire brigades certainly around Australia and around the rest of the world, are having on a daily basis, they are attending fires associated with micro mobility devices like scooters and skateboards and like a lot of that is a result of poor manufacturing."
Mr Morgan says it's important to follow the manufacturer's guidance for charging the vehicle.
It's understood that constant rapid charging and charging the vehicle to a very high state is known to be not very good for the battery and could contribute to faults occurring in the future.
Mr Morgan says mechanical damage or the puncturing of a battery cell can very quickly lead to an abnormal thermal event within the battery pack.
