March 12, 2024
“2-23” fire accident – a safety thought triggered by electric vehicles
At 4:39 p.m. on February 23, a fire broke out in Building 6 of Mingshang Xiyuan housing neighborhood in Yuhuatai District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
The fire first burned from the electric motorcycle parking lot on the first floor of the 6th building, and then black smoke surged to the middle and high floors through the hallways and light wells.
Then Nanjing Fire and Rescue Detachment Command Center received the alarm, quickly mobilized 8 fire and rescue stations, 25 fire engines, 130 fighters to the scene, the fire was extinguished at 6:00 pm, 14:00 pm, the scene at the end of the search and rescue work.
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In the early morning of February 24, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, held a press conference to inform the Nanjing Yuhuatai District, “2-23” fire accident related to the situation, as of 24:00 on the 23rd, the accident caused a total of 15 fatalities and 44 injuries.
Nanjing Fire and Rescue Detachment responsible person introduced, after preliminary analysis, the fire for the 6th building on the ground floor overhead parking electric vehicles at the time of the fire. The specific cause is under further investigation.
Safety hazards of electric vehicles
This incident is caused by the state and people get more attention from electric vehicles, but it also reveals once again the importance of electric vehicle charging safety management. How to charge motorcycle battery correctly?
We must pay great attention to the lives of hidden safety hazards and rectification. Electric bicycles bring convenience to people’s travel, but fire accidents caused by them also occur from time to time.
E-bike fire accidents are frequent, according to statistics. In recent years, the proportion of fires caused by electric vehicles to the total number of fires has been rising year by year, and has accounted for about 10% of all fires, of which 80% of fires occur during charging, while 90% of the cases of human casualties occur in public areas of the building, such as foyers, corridors, stairwells and so on.
China’s relevant laws and regulations have clearly prohibited the charging of electric bicycles in public areas of high-rise civil buildings, which is because once an electric bicycle fire, the temperature can rise to more than 1200 ℃ in a short period of time, thermal runaway will produce intense combustion and toxic smoke, a great threat to people’s lives and property safety.
What is the solution to the problem of parking and charging electric vehicles?
Relevant studies show that the vast majority of e-bike fires in China now occur during the process of e-bike parking and e-bike charging.
It has been reported that the Ming Shang Xiyuan housing neighborhood has opened space in the basement to park e-bikes, but it has not been promoted to the housing neighborhood.
However, the situation is different in different housing neighborhoods in different cities, and includes two issues of where the parking and charging place comes from and who pays for it, which requires the joint efforts of government departments, streets, properties, and owners’ committees to study and plan.
In recent years, some housing neighborhoods have opened new charging piles and battery swapping stations, but there are still residents who choose to bring their batteries home for charging because the charging fee is more expensive than charging at home.
The installed charging pile and battery swapping stations are not well utilized, and it is also difficult to operate them in the long run.
At present, the cause of the fire in Ming Shang Xiyuan is not clearly identified as an electric vehicle fire, or due to the power line fire.
Last December, held in Nanjing, an electric bicycle lithium safety seminar, Jiangsu Province, Fire and Rescue Corps Senior Engineer Zhou Guanglian said that the realization of the safety of electric bicycles, the need to start from the source, can be set up through temperature, pressure sensors real-time collection of the surface temperature of the electric core, pressure inside the module box to achieve early detection of hazardous conditions in a timely manner multi-channel early warning, to avoid causing injuries and deaths.
Promoting full coverage of the construction of charging facilities
Improvements to parking and charging in challenging neighborhoods
For space constraints, alteration, construction of additional difficult neighborhoods, construction of public parking and charging in the surrounding area or multi-point arrangement of installation of charging facilities, charging cabinets, to effectively meet the needs of residents parking and charging.
The use of public land, the original bikeport (space), to accelerate the construction of centralized charging facilities for electric bicycles.
Repair charging facilities methodically to avoid hidden risks
The existing charging facilities should be remedied one by one against the construction standards, qualified one to use one, leaving no hidden dangers; the need for new charging facilities to be co-ordinated, the implementation of the specific construction tasks, and to the State Grid Electricity Corporation to submit an application for the installation of power services such as installation, capacity increase.
Selection of high-quality charging facilities and electric vehicle manufacturers
Selection of charging facilities construction and operation enterprises should have a sound safety production management system and strong platform operation and maintenance supervision capabilities, production of charging facilities products should comply with the relevant national and municipal standards and norms, associated product safety liability insurance and other requirements, commitment to the implementation of the main responsibility for safety management, charging service fee is not higher than the cost of electricity, and the power sector to sign a smart payment agreement.
Electric vehicle fire, why frequent, in fact, not only the use of the problem, the production of the problem is also to pay great attention to, must start from the source, only the whole chain to improve the level of safety in order to minimize the risk.
Promote comprehensive charging infrastructure with battery swapping stations
For existing residential areas, encourage counties, districts (development zones, the Authority) according to local conditions, in accordance with the principle of “battery swapping station as the main, charging piles as complementary”, vigorously promote the construction of charging facilities in residential areas with full coverage, according to the actual charging needs of charging interfaces of public buildings, and encourage the promotion of a more secure battery swap station.
The battery swapping station not only can make use of intelligent monitoring and control of any position of the battery and the status of the battery swap cabinet, but also more convenient for the user to use, with the change of use, improves security.
Final thoughts
How to avoid electric vehicles causing fires and other accidents is a comprehensive social issue, covering production, sales, use and other aspects.
In addition to manufacturers, in accordance with national standards, developing products, quality supervision, industry and commerce departments to strengthen the supervision of electric vehicles, users should also comply with the rules of safe use.
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Nancy
Nancy has worked hands-on with battery swap infrastructure for electric two- and three-wheelers since 2021, including deployment projects in South Asia. She regularly consults on EV fleet electrification and has contributed technical specifications to multiple swapping station manufacturers. Her market analysis is grounded in direct collaboration with importers, dealers, and RMV registration data.
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