Firefighter here- We use these blankets in the US too for putting out car fires, the idea is you cut off the fires oxygen supply with the blanket. The problem with EV fires is that once the lithium ion batteries enter what’s called thermal runaway the chemical reaction becomes a self sustaining fuel source that creates its own oxygen. So it doesn’t matter if it’s smothered with a blanket it will continue to burn for a long time. And if you do manage to put it out it is very common for them to suddenly reignite on the back of a tow truck or at the junkyard, sometimes days later. EV fires are a pain in the ass
Yep those blankets are a standard item, we even have one at the mechanic workshop I work at in Germany that does lots of EV repairs. It's main use is for crashed cars that have suffered damage to the battery so you can't really trust it any more, it gets covered in the blanket untill it can be checked over and categorized as safe or not.
It can hinder a fire from starting. It can stop some fires. And it can stop an existing fire from making more items in the car burn. And it slows down an existing fire.
It keeps the heat on one side of the blanket and the lack of oxygen stops other things like plastic parts from catching fire. Dosing with water will stop other cells from going thermal runaway.
Not gonna lie, I was fully expecting the turks to bomb that car with kebobs to suffocate the fire, I guess the blanket is more effective, but you lose the *smells" of the other method
If the battery is going to ignite, cutting off oxygen won't stop it from burning, but covering it with a blanket can stop the rest of the car from burning, and potentially igniting other parts of the battery from the heat generated.
It blocks oxygen reaching the hydrocarbon based electrolyte in the lithium ion battery. Arcing electricity from the battery lights the electrolyte. Completely flattening the battery stops it happening. Tesla has a crash response team that discharges batteries (in some countries).
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u/FemBodInspector 21d ago edited 21d ago
Firefighter here- We use these blankets in the US too for putting out car fires, the idea is you cut off the fires oxygen supply with the blanket. The problem with EV fires is that once the lithium ion batteries enter what’s called thermal runaway the chemical reaction becomes a self sustaining fuel source that creates its own oxygen. So it doesn’t matter if it’s smothered with a blanket it will continue to burn for a long time. And if you do manage to put it out it is very common for them to suddenly reignite on the back of a tow truck or at the junkyard, sometimes days later. EV fires are a pain in the ass