Home » Here’s What Happened When An Electric Car Caught Fire On A Lift In A Dealership

Here’s What Happened When An Electric Car Caught Fire On A Lift In A Dealership

Audi Etron Fire Ts2
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Electric vehicle fires represent a different set of challenges for firefighters when compared with ICE-driven vehicles — a fact openly on display recently in Carmel, Indiana. Over the weekend, firefighters responded to a call about a thermal event (of sorts) in the maintenance department of a local dealership.

It turns out that the alarm related to an Audi e-Tron GT (the Audi version of the Porsche Taycan, a fully electric sedan) that was burning while it sat several feet in the air on a lift. That’s right, this car wasn’t on the road or sitting in a garage but instead was hovering high above the firefighters.

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To combat the flames, save the building, and keep everyone safe, responders needed to employ unique tactics, which they documented for us to see.

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Carmel Fire Department

It’s unclear how long it took the Carmel Fire Department to arrive at the dealership, but what appears to be the first photo from the scene shows thick smoke in the area. Notably, and we’ll dig into this further shortly, there is no visible fire in any of the photos from the dealership.

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Here’s how the crew managed to put out whatever fire did exist and move the car into a safer location, per the Carmel Fire Department:

After balancing the alarm, firefighters were able to mostly extinguish the EV car fire up on the lift, however, being lithium ion it’s nearly impossible to fully extinguish due to thermal runaway. Through different trainings one tactic we have discussed and were able to put into action was to remove the vehicle from the structure. Fire crews were able to lower the car onto wheel dollies, use manpower and a forklift to push the vehicle out of the maintenance area.

Photos show most of that process too as the crew first managed the smoke before lowering the car onto the dollies. Interestingly, it appears as though they felt it was safe enough to re-install the wheels on some of the hubs before fully dropping the car to the ground, though they had to keep the fire in check all the while:

Fire crews were able to lower the car onto wheel dollies, use manpower and a forklift to push the vehicle out of the maintenance area. This required plenty of firefighters and water to keep the fire in check. After loading the vehicle on a flatbed, a fire engine followed the flatbed and vehicle until it reached the salvage yard.

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As the images show, once on the ground, the e-Tron GT was pushed by a forklift while the car sat on the dollies. Carmel Fire Department tells The Autopian there was a single minor injury and other hazards to deal with beyond the fire.

We had one minor injury to a firefighter. There was also a 12 to 16 inch pit that was full of water, so we did have people end up stepping in that. The pit was camouflaged because there was water all over the ground.

That all being said, several commenters in the main Facebook post from the Fire Department say they don’t think this appears to be a battery fire:

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Fb Commenters

 

The fire department speaks about the flame as if it was indeed a battery fire. Again, from the Carmel Fire Department: “… firefighters were able to mostly extinguish the EV car fire up on the lift, however, being lithium ion it’s nearly impossible to fully extinguish due to thermal runaway.” I assume folks find that this fire looks strange because many battery fires end up with a lot more damage.

E Tron Fire 3

 

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Now, it’s plausible, as David Tracy pointed out to me, that only a single module of the battery pack ignited and that fire crews managed the fire from there. [Ed Note: Battery packs are designed to try to isolate incidents of thermal runaway. Ideally, if you had a cell in a module go up in flames, the damage — again, ideally — would be limited to just that module. But it doesn’t always work out that way. The point is: It’s not always the full pack that will catch fire. – DT]. 

Post Fire Audi Etron

When these fires get out of control, they can end up looking like little more than a heap of charred rubble though. For example, a confirmed battery fire in the Tesla Semi took 50,000 gallons of water to put it out and even then it was an almost unrecognizable shell of itself.

Granted, that’s a much larger vehicle but we’ve detailed in the past just how hard these fires are to put out and the lengths fire departments go to put them out. By comparison, this Audi e-Tron GT fire appears as though it was fairly minor (aside from getting it off of the lift and moving it out of the shop) and easy enough to douse. Of course, it’s also an exceptional show of skill from the CFD.

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Seeing as we’re not firefighters, The Autopian has reached out to the Carmel FD for more info. As of this writing, all it tells us is that “At this point, they’ve got private investigators looking into this issue, and we are not releasing any additional information until they have completed what they are doing.”

E Tron Fire 1

A person claiming to have been a part of the clean-up tells us via Facebook that “The batteries had some involvement in the fire. I spoke with the dealership today they are still working on figuring out the whole cause.” That doesn’t clarify much but it’s in line with what the fire department told us about an ongoing investigation.

We’ve also called and written to the dealer where we believe this happened. If we learn more we’ll update you here. Regardless of how this Audi caught on fire, it’s clear that the department was prepared and willing to make the most out of the tools it had — in this case, lots of water, plenty of hands on deck, some dollies, and a forklift.

[Ed Note: EVs are not more likely to catch fire than gas cars; this story exists only to highlight some of the new challenges that firefighters face. As the public becomes more aware of EV fire mitigation strategies, stories like this will be less newsworthy, and The Autopian will stop covering them. -DT]

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EricTheViking
EricTheViking
13 days ago

EVs are not more likely to catch fire than gas cars”

Well, David, you conveniently ignore the harsh reality that a single EV could burn many vehicles in one go, especially in the underground garages, the storage yards, oceangoing ships, and likes. This also spews lot of toxic gases for a long time.

That’s why the maritime insurers are discouraging or prohibiting the cargo ships from ferrying the BEV and PHEV.

What’s more the EV is more enviromentally destructive than petroleum-based vehicles.

I won’t change my mind about the EV. So do many first-time EV owners in Germany who are frustrated when nobody wants to buy their EV for weeks, if not months.

People need to stop being deluded about the “virtue” of EV and start accepting the harsh reality that the EV aren’t practical and great, period.

CampoDF
CampoDF
16 days ago

Wonder what happened to all the other customer cars in the shop?! I would guess if the doors and hoods were closed, then it was like a rainstorm. But if not? Welp…

P Hans
P Hans
16 days ago
Reply to  CampoDF

And they would see some smoke damage/residue in addition to the water

Defenestrator
Defenestrator
14 days ago
Reply to  CampoDF

It’s pretty common for repair shops to leave a window down, to avoid getting accidentally locked out.

JDE
JDE
16 days ago

Definitely the Thermal Car in the room Carlos.

Capo Di tutti capi
Capo Di tutti capi
16 days ago

That’s Hot.

Goblin
Goblin
16 days ago

Audi is brave.
The Toyota MR2 – pronounced “Emmm-Errr-Deux” in French => Mer-deux (shitty) => Merde (well – merde) was called just “MR” in France for some phonetic reason…

And yet the Etron (Etron=”Turd” in French) bravely remains Etron even in France.

I applaud Audi embracing its true substance 😛

VanGuy
VanGuy
16 days ago

Just want to say, thanks for that concluding editor’s note, DT. Good to be reminded.

Brynjaminjones
Brynjaminjones
15 days ago
Reply to  VanGuy

Agreed. These editorial standards are one of the big reasons I spend so much time on this site.

JaredTheGeek
JaredTheGeek
16 days ago

There definitely needs to be more development on how firefighters will deal with EV fires. It’s also a problem that will be solved through changes in chemistry in the batteries.

Vetatur Fumare
Vetatur Fumare
16 days ago

My first thought was that Audi/Porsche, having car-building experience, has made a somewhat safer EV in the case of fire. Source: none.

Cerberus
Cerberus
16 days ago

I had been wondering about what would happen if one of these caught fire on a lift and here we are! Good thing they got it out of there. If I were there, that car would have been pushed out almost entirely by the force of loud cursing.

3WiperB
3WiperB
17 days ago

Scary.. It reminds me that there was a fire locally here at a Chevy dealer in the Detroit Metro area a few years ago was started by a leaking gas tank and a floor scrubber and burned the service bay to the ground. The security camera footage is crazy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KISFht7mQV0

TheDrunkenWrench
TheDrunkenWrench
17 days ago

As someone who works for a large transit authority that’s currently switching their fleet to EVs, emergency response and high voltage safety are probably my department’s biggest resource sink.

There’s a LOT of risk involved with these. Especially in an industry (automotive/truck/coach) where there isn’t yet a discipline/license requirement for working on this tech.

We’ll get there, but regs are written in blood and I’m worried how much of that will be technician blood before we iron it all out. Transition is scary sometimes.

I Heart Japanese Cars
I Heart Japanese Cars
16 days ago

It is not required but there is an ASE exam for electric vehicles. I’m sure it covers risk mitigation.

Jeffrey Johnson
Jeffrey Johnson
17 days ago

Park it out front. Ran when toasted.

MAX FRESH OFF
MAX FRESH OFF
16 days ago

Yeah, that’ll buff right out.

Acid Tonic
Acid Tonic
17 days ago

If diesels were doing this people would call for their banning.

JaredTheGeek
JaredTheGeek
16 days ago
Reply to  Acid Tonic

There was a diesel crash that took down a freeway overpass near me. ICE cars starting wildfires because they roll onto dry grass and ignite it.

Brynjaminjones
Brynjaminjones
15 days ago
Reply to  Acid Tonic

I’m pretty sure ICE vehicles have been causing fires for a while now.

Defenestrator
Defenestrator
14 days ago
Reply to  Acid Tonic

I’m guessing you’ve never seen a runaway diesel engine before?

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
17 days ago

I know you mentioned (or DT did) that battery architecture is such that it impedes thermal runaway, but couldn’t batteries also have an active countermeasure like a pressurized tank of Lion-X, F500, AASD, or AVD incorporated into the system? Not that I really want to burden car prices with that cost, but it’s at least akin to carrying an A-B-C fire extinguisher in your trunk for ICE fires.

David Tracy
David Tracy
17 days ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

It’s an interesting thought for sure.

Angrycat Meowmeow
Angrycat Meowmeow
17 days ago

It uses a LiFePO4 12v battery under the hood, up near the firewall. AFAIK they don’t seem to be as explodey as regular lithium ion batteries.

Edit: That doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been something silly like a tech leaving a tool where it could bridge the terminals, and there certainly does seem to be a lot of damage in that area.

Last edited 17 days ago by Angrycat Meowmeow
Dolsh
Dolsh
17 days ago

I wonder who lost the rochambo to call the customer and let them know.

“Yeah… good news is the brakes were fine. Nothing wrong there. There is another issue though…”

Cerberus
Cerberus
16 days ago
Reply to  Dolsh

That’s funny as it was my exact thought—guy dropped it off to have the brakes looked at and has to be told the car is at a salvage yard. Don’t know why my go-to was brakes as it’s one of the less likely things, but I guess because it seems so simple.

Abdominal Snoman
Abdominal Snoman
17 days ago

That looks more like the interior of the car is what caught on fire and spread to the firewall and trunk. Not saying it wasn’t caused by the main battery as the interior sits just above it, but it could just as easily started at the radio, the inverter, heated seats, etc. and then spread to the battery.

Lord of the Zipties
Lord of the Zipties
17 days ago

The picture of the water coming down from the ceiling makes me wonder if we’ll start seeing building code revisions to include fire suppression systems that can handle EV fires (if they can’t already).

I Heart Japanese Cars
I Heart Japanese Cars
16 days ago

Water is used on EV battery fires as it cools the battery reducing the risks of further thermal runaway.

Lord of the Zipties
Lord of the Zipties
16 days ago

I guess my comment was more wondering if current water-based fire sprinklers can handle that kind of fire.

Space
Space
16 days ago

They can’t, but they can hopefully keep it from spreading to other objects.

Lockleaf
Lockleaf
17 days ago

I imagine “just a 12V fire” is scary as hell when you are a firefighter dealing with an EV. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I imagine any fire in an EV could develop in to a full on battery fire, so even if it seems small, the amount of potential sitting there, and lack of significant experience dealing with them, has to make these scary fires. But good on them, I’m glad the most dangerous factor was a 12 inch hole in the ground full of water.

David Tracy
David Tracy
17 days ago
Reply to  Lockleaf

For sure!

El Jefe de Barbacoa
El Jefe de Barbacoa
16 days ago
Reply to  Lockleaf

It’s a scary amount of energy sitting in those cells.

Elanosaurous
Elanosaurous
16 days ago

It’s much less energy density than in an ICE fuel tank – much larger volume for less energy. But a gas tank blows up all at once rather than burning for hours, so it’s a different challenge.

DadBod
DadBod
16 days ago
Reply to  Lockleaf

I am currently training to be a firefighter, so I have no firsthand experience but work with people who have dealt with EV fires. They are treated like any other vehicle fire. Water will extinguish the fire. The issue is that after the initial fire is extinguished, the battery may still flare up. So the wrecking yard will put the crashed EV in a corner (or a hole in the ground) where it can’t burn anything else.
An EV battery has like 1/1000th the energy density of a tank of gasoline, fumes from a leaking gas tank pose far more risk to FFs than an EV.

Last edited 16 days ago by DadBod
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