In recent years, the government’s strives for higher levels of sustainability have seen the implementation of new green initiatives across the country in a bid to reduce CO2 emissions and the UK’s Carbon Footprint.
Alongside this comes the pledge of a mass rollout of support for businesses to have up to 300,000+ public electric car charging ports installed by 2030 in order to make charging electronically powered vehicles more accessible and budget-friendly.
ambitious milestones
The strategy put forward by the Department of Transport aims to see the sale of all new fossil fuel-powered vehicles abolished by 2030, and for all new vehicles, including cars and vans, to have zero exhaust emissions by 2035.
Announced on March 25th, 2022, this 13-year window sets out ambitious milestones for the country’s future, and incites rapid change across a number of sectors.
What is the risk?
It is important to consider the effect something may have on the Fire Risk of a property
As with all new installments, it is important to consider the effect something may have on the Fire Risk of a property.
One particular sector to be considered in terms of risk is Hospitality. With guests staying for prolonged amounts of time due to overnight stays, the opportunity for a full vehicle charge becomes more available, especially for those traveling.
Stand-alone ports
Despite the government’s incentives, installing stand-alone ports can lead to increased cost, meaning an increased likeliness of companies opting to install their ports adjacent or very close to their property, in order to access established power supplies, bringing down the expense.
Whilst this sounds like an effective solution, the potential risk this poses to the integrity of a building is raised by a few factors.
Underlying risk
By placing charging ports closer to the outside of a building, it, in turn, moves closer to soffits, facades
By placing charging ports closer to the outside of a building, it, in turn, moves closer to soffits, facades, and overhangs around the external walls of a property.
Pairing this with a hybrid vehicle’s substantial fuel reserve and ignition points being placed around and underneath, it becomes prudent to consider the risk that lies there when conducting an assessment.
What evidence to draw this from?
Whilst the government guidance and policy lag behind the implementation of the initiative, it is important to be proactive and engage with relevant test data to ensure awareness of the potential risks.
If Global Fire Technical Services look at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) Testing Regimes 2009, it can see that a single medium-sized car's Heat Release Rate (HRR) during Fire Testing can reach a 5MW peak, with a 2MW constant during an engine fire. In comparison, a Front Room in Flashover will reach between 1.5MW to 3MW, condition dependent.
Convective and radiative heat output
It is important to consider the materials which would be burning, such as fuels, the non-combustion modified foam
From this, it can draw the assumption that in the event of a vehicle fire at a charging port, there is the risk of the equivalent of a room in flashover occurring underneath soffits, external facades, eaves, and overhangs. This is a convective and radiative heat output far in excess of that catered for in B4, SFPE, NFPA, PD7974, or BR187.
It is also important to consider the materials which would be burning, such as fuels, the non-combustion modified foam used in upholstery, rubber, and plastic. All of which may take time to ignite, but once they are ignited can be increasingly difficult to extinguish.
BRE Testing Regimes of 2009
Paired with this is the possibility of fire spread between vehicles, with the likelihood of multiple charging ports being placed alongside each other due to cost and space.
The BRE Testing Regimes of 2009 also found that three vehicles can reach a total of 16MW during a Fire Test. This means that should a fire spread between three vehicles, users effectively have a fire with over 5 times the potential power of a room flashover placed directly below the external components of the building.
Things to consider?
Any vehicles containing fuel cells should also be considered and additional guidance sought
It is important to factor in each and every risk when conducting a Fire Risk Assessment, ensuring that a complete and exhaustive report is produced to guarantee that all remedial work thereafter is conducted to a level that makes a building fully compliant.
Because of this, Global Fire Technical Services must ensure that any site that proposes the installation or has already installed any Electric Charging Ports should consider the fact that the structure of the premises could be at increased risk of the spread of fire due to a fire in a vehicle parked substantially close to the building and any of its external fixtures. As well as this, any vehicles containing fuel cells should also be considered and additional guidance sought.
Electric charging ports
It would be worth, when faced with the issue of EVC ports, consulting Approved Document S for further instruction and guidance around electric charging ports.
As the industry and the world begins to adapt with each passing day and changing climate, Global Fire Technical Services must begin to consider the ways its assessments, surveys, works, and materials fit into the overall safety of a building, and this new government initiative should hopefully be followed by some strong policies and guidance.
