The fire blanket that promises to end electric car fires

Electric cars also fall victim to flames on numerous occasions, as we saw yesterday when a Porsche Taycan mysteriously caught fire in a garage, and this is a cause for concern. As you know, a fire in an electric vehicle is very different from one that can occur in a combustion car due to its mechanical layout, which consists of battery packs with cells capable of generating a fire as abrasive as it is long-lasting and thus becoming a real nightmare for the fire brigade.

To put an end to these aggressive fires occurring in various electric vehicles and to reduce water consumption, Bridgehill has developed a fire blanket ready to extinguish any fire. It has already been tested by the Centro Zaragoza Research Institute, which has determined its capabilities and will help bring it to market immediately.

To do so, both the Aragonese institute and its fire department set a fire in an electric vehicle in search of the phenomenon known as “thermal runaway”. This is characterised by small fires and explosions that occur and can be heard in the battery every 2-15 seconds and that spread from one cell to another, potentially extending for 24 hours and drastically hindering the task of extinguishing the fire.

After allowing the fire—started and controlled in a safe environment—to spread enough to raise the temperature above 1,000 °C, the car was covered with the blanket. After this,只 a few seconds were needed to see how the surface temperature of the car dropped rapidly to just over 100 °C.

During the demonstration, the blanket was removed again to show its effectiveness in controlling the fire, which spread again promptly. Thanks to the development of this innovation, not only will it be possible to control a car fire far more successfully—whether combustion, electric or hybrid—but also to shield from the radiation emitted by the fire and the toxic fumes it generates.

https://youtu.be/gEf1K9QBLeE

It will be at the International Security Fair, SICUR, where both the Centro Zaragoza Research Institute and Bridgehill will exhibit this ingenious blanket. The event will take place between the 25th and 28th of this same month at the Feria de Madrid, where the data obtained during the test will be presented, as well as the options and capabilities of the product itself.