Fire safety in EVs and charging in car parks

pinfa input to the European Commission guidance on electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in covered parking. The now-published EU Sustainable Transport Forum “Guidance” document (80 pages) underlines that electric vehicles (EVs) do not present a higher fire risk than internal combustion engine cars (ICEVs): statistics suggest that ICEVs are more than twenty times more likely to catch fire, and spread of fire from EVs to adjacent vehicles is no faster than for ICEVs. However, but lithium ion battery fires do pose specific dangers and challenges for firefighting. Also, EV charging installations may pose fire safety issues. The Guidance summarises relevant legislation in EU Member States, specific challenges of EV fires, fire prevention, detection, evacuation, propagation control and extinction and provides recommendations for car park operators, EV users, firefighters and public authorities. The report notes that speed of battery thermal runaway is related to materials in the battery (use of flame retardants) and to cooling, control and shutdown systems, and is strongly influenced by state of charge (energy present in the battery).

“Guidance on fire safety for electric vehicles parked and charging infrastructure in covered parking spaces”, European Commission / Sustainable Transport Forum, 80 pages, 2025 ISBN 978-92-68-25223-9, https://doi.org/10.2832/6681178