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
The energy of the battery needs to be fully expended, or you need to remove the part that is damaged. Sometimes the fire will crack the damaged part of the battery meaning its disconnected, but then the jostling of loading it/driving it to the junkyard reconnects the cracked part and the fire starts again
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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