While electric vehicles (EVs) are technologically advanced, it is well known that if an EV battery should catch fire, it can be a horror to control and extinguish. There are plenty of videos and reports online of EV batteries suffering ‘thermal runaway’ and burning fiercely with firefighters battling to get the blaze under control.

Should such a fire catch hold in an enclosed space such as an underground or multi-storey car park which large, traditional fire engines cannot access, there can be little chance of containing it in its early stages.

In the UK, automotive engineering company Prospeed has developed a new fire-fighting vehicle specifically to fight both conventional and EV fires at those early stages, whatever the location.

The 6×6 Hiload uses a Toyota Hilux as the donor vehicle which is fitted with a new six-wheel chassis. The result is a vehicle capable of being fitted with all manner of firefighting equipment and which can get into all manner of places to fight those fires – from underground car parks to off-road spots in challenging environments.

With the replacement chassis and a torque splitter system, the 6×6 has rated 5,600kg Gross Vehicle Weight, which offers 3,000kg payload. The load-space is also extended by 1,230mm. Although longer, the Hiload’s height is 1,850mm – low enough to allow access to the majority of parking structures. Prospeed says it also results in a lower centre of gravity and better stability in high-speed manoeuvres.

Among the equipment with which the Hiload can be fitted is the the Coldcut Cobra system for extinguishing EV battery fires.

The Cobra Ultra High-Pressure Lance (UHPL) system uses an abrasive suspended in water to pierce a hole through floor pans and inject water at 300bar throughout the module casing. The company says this water cools directly inside the battery and prevents further possibility of a thermal runaway. The company says that testing showed the Coldcut Cobra system could prevent cell propagation and thermal runaway from spreading within 10 minutes, using just 240 litres of water.

The Hiload 6×6 chassis can be used in other configurations – military and industrial among them – as well as the firefighting set-up.

VIDEO: COBRA & EV FIRES

Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (May 2023)

23 May 2023