During "European Fire Safety Week" Pinfa informs about fire safety for e-mobility
As in previous months, conferences and informational events will continue to take place mainly online due to the corona crisis, in order to keep the potential for infection as low as possible. The "European Fire Safety Week", which took place from November 17th to 19th, is a successful example of such an online event. This fire safety event consisted of five individual webinars and was co-organized by the European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA).
In total, more than 32 speakers gave presentations, successfully sharing their knowledge, recommendations and concerns with the more than 650 registered participants. In addition to webinars on the subject of demographic development and the target group of older people, who are thus increasingly exposed to fire hazards, a webinar on fire prevention and the right behavior in case of fire was also held.
A webinar, co-organized by pinfa, presented a topic that is becoming increasingly important. This focused on the topic of the transition in the automotive sector from combustion engines to electric or hybrid drives. Since it is expected that one third of the global automotive market will already be electrified by 2030, this topic is of great interest to all of us. However, in addition to new opportunities and increasing sustainability, this trend also leads to new challenges in terms of fire protection due to the increased use of plastics (topic: weight reduction). The use of ever better batteries, with ever higher energy densities, potentially leads to a fire hazard in accidents and great challenges in extinguishing the fire.
After a short welcome by Adrian Beard, Chair of pinfa, and Elie van Strien, Chair European Fire Safety Alliance, Paul Otxoterena, RiSE, gave a presentation on the new dangers that arise from accidents involving electric vehicles.
Vincent Mans, pinfa, showed in his presentation the dangers of parked electric vehicles in garages. As soon as many vehicles are parked close together, which can be the case especially with large charging stations, there is a higher fire risk. A starting fire can quickly spread to other vehicles. In addition, the sometimes very toxic gases that can be released in the event of a fire pose a further danger.
David Qi, Radici Group High Performance Polymers Materials, presented latest technical solutions for safety and performance and Laurent Tribut, Schneider Electric, gave a good overview of current relevant flame protection standards, current charging systems and connectors.
In summary, the event was very successful in bringing together the various relevant parties and accelerating the exchange of information.