Ferries offer the attractive advantage of transport over long distances, saving EV-drivers both kilometres driven and downtime for recharging breaks during the journey. This in turn introduces the new challenge of allowing passengers to be able to recharge their vehicles while on-board, adding additional demands for shipboard firefighting capabilities. The requirements for successful fire containment and extinguishing at sea thus presents a pressing need for updating and developing current standards and methods.
To preclude future accidents, fire safety measures and equipment must be prepared to accommodate these risks. To do so, the project will provide methods and materials, working with local first responders to transfer and develop existing knowledge of EV-specific firefighting on shore over to the maritime sector.
The overall goal is to present new, holistic fire strategies for EV battery fires at sea to prevent and manage potential increase in fires as EVs make up a growing part of the Danish car fleet.
The activities in the project plan also work to prepare The Blue Denmark for increased movement of EVs, and in turn support the government goal of greatly increasing the number of EVs in Denmark by 2030, and the widespread ambition of an increasingly electric car fleet in the Nordic region in general.
Furthermore, the project will work to increase awareness of the complexity of EV battery fires and the need for both short and long-term solutions, addressing fire safety issues that could slow or hinder the fulfilment of government goals and policy goals in the Nordic region as a whole.
The expected outcome of this project is the development of performance based holistic fire safety strategies for EV battery fires on ferries, focusing on delivering solutions for the Danish maritime sector that are implementable and affordable in the short-term.
DBI will lead and coordinate the project. The project will be carried out in close collaboration with DFDS, Scandlines, Molslinjen A/S and The Danish Emergency Management Agency.
The project has received funding from The Danish Maritime Fund and will be implemented as an intensive, solution oriented project in the period 2 September 2021 to 31 December 2022.
You can read the press release from The Danish Maritime Fund here (in Danish).
