The thought of submerging a burning car into an enormous bathtub might sound odd at first, nevertheless it’s an actual resolution proposed by German firm Ellermann Eurocon. Okay, it’s not a bath in literal phrases. It’s a container, known as Purple Boxx, that submerges the battery of a fire-ravaged automobile to chill it down and doubtlessly remove the danger of fireside reignition.
It’s attainable for lithium-ion batteries to short-circuit and catch hearth. This would possibly occur on account of cell harm, overcharge, or extreme warmth amongst many different causes.
There have been such circumstances in North America within the latest previous the place Teslas and Chevy Bolt EVs have gone up in flames. Despite the fact that hearth extinguishers can douse these flames, the danger of reignition would possibly persist on account of thermal runaway – a phenomenon the place battery cells burn uncontrollably in a sequence response.
Ellermann Eurocon’s patented high-voltage container is cell. As per the label hooked up to the Purple Boxx, it is a 23-square-meter container weighing 3,530 kilograms (7,782 kilos). It may be mounted on a semi-truck and transported to the situation of the hearth.
To convey it into motion, it’s positioned in entrance of the broken automobile, following which its tailgate is opened to let the automobile in. Its operators use a winch and specifically developed rescue nets made from plastic belts and metal cables to tug the car inside. The water, transported in a separate container, is then sprinkled into the Purple Boxx, stated CEO Tobias Ellermann within the video beneath.
Lastly, the wastewater used to chill the car will get pumped in a “managed method right into a harmful items container,” as per the corporate’s web site.
Ellermann additionally talked about that firefighters and first responders approached the corporate for an answer to uncontrollable car fires, which they discovered arduous to extinguish. The watertight Purple Boxx was their reply to this downside.
Nevertheless, it is unclear how this obvious resolution doesn’t exacerbate the issue, as lithium-ion batteries would possibly react violently upon water seepage.
That stated, it’s attainable that these containers could be extra helpful for hybrids and ICE automobiles. Nationwide Transport Security Board’s 2022 research revealed that hybrid and fuel automobiles had been extra fire-prone in comparison with all-electric automobiles.
Furthermore, with fixed enhancements in battery expertise and engineering, the speed of fires amongst EVs seems to be decreasing – Tesla car hearth information revealed that there are simply 5 fires involving Teslas for each one billion miles traveled.
Do you assume this German resolution for extinguishing car fires would work properly within the US? Depart your ideas within the feedback.