Renault’s Secret Trick to Combat EV Fires Now Becomes Open Source

Electric vehicles are no more at risk of catching fire than ICE-powered or hybrid vehicles. Quite the opposite, actually. A 2022 study based on data from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) taught us that.

However, incidents involving EVs happen to make headlines more frequently due to the mysterious causes of the fires and the extraordinary amount of precautions and resources that are needed to put them out.

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A single EV fire can require anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 litres of water to extinguish definitively, as we’ve previously reported. And then there’s the problem of thermal runaway, where damaged batteries can catch fire again several hours or days after the initial event.

Renault’s Solution

There are multiple ways to address the issue of EV fires including safer and more advanced batteries, improved vehicle designs, increased prevention and awareness, as well as advanced training of firefighting crews and emergency personnel. Tesla and General Motors are some of the automakers working in these areas. The one we’d like to talk about now is Renault.

The French manufacturer’s Fireman Access system allows emergency services to put out a fire in roughly the same time as with a conventionally powered vehicle, thus using up to 10 times less water in the process.

From a technical standpoint, an adhesive disc is placed over an opening in the battery casing, effectively sealing it for normal use. If the vehicle catches fire and the flames spread to the battery, the powerful jet from the fire hose will dislodge the disc and drench the cells in water—the only fast and effective way of stopping thermal runaway.

Who’ll Follow the Lead?

Fireman Access can now be found on all EV and PHEV models sold by Renault and its various brands (Dacia, Alpine and Mobilize) globally. Why not make it standard across the auto industry?

That’s exactly what Renault is thinking as it decided to make the Fireman Access patents freely available through the open collaborative platform at www.renault.fr/universalpatent.

Car manufacturers and parts suppliers can obtain a free licence for this once-exclusive innovation. In return, as part of this collaborative principle, licensees agree that any upgrades will be made available to other members of the community. Smart move.