The new, unusual solution to EV fires: High-speed battery ejection

The Chinese Vehicle Collision Repair Technical and Research Center and Joyson Electronics have revealed a very unusual solution to a serious concern.

At an event earlier this month, new technology was demonstrated on Chery’s iCar 03 that can see a vehicle’s high-voltage battery ejected 3-6 metres away within a second of thermal runaway being detected.

It’s ejected from the vehicle using a gas generator, much in the same way as an airbag works, with the idea to get the battery away from vehicle occupants before it catches fire.

In the demonstration video, shared across Chinese media including cnBeta, the battery is ejected with a bang into a nearby pit and then quickly shrouded.

However, there are naturally concerns over the high-speed ejection of a battery weighing potentially several hundred kilograms.

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It’s possible that, should this technology come to production vehicles, it’ll be accompanied by cameras and radar to ensure a battery isn’t ejected at speed into neighbouring pedestrians and vehicles.

Neither the Chinese Vehicle Collision Repair Technical and Research Center nor Joyson Electronics have published any more information about this technology, so it’s unclear whether there are any plans for it to be offered to automakers.

EV fires can be caused by battery cells overheating after their cathodes and anodes make contact and short circuit, generating heat which spreads to surrounding cells, creating a chain reaction almost impossible to reverse – with temperatures rising to about 1000°C. This is what’s called thermal runaway.

According to Australian organisation EV FireSafe, though, EV battery fires are rare.

Its research found there were a total of 393 verified EV traction battery fires globally between 2010 and June 30, 2023, though it notes this data isn’t exhaustive.