VITO/EnergyVille, PLOT and Brandweerzone Oost-Limburg combine expertise for safer batteries in Flanders

The rise of batteries brings new challenges for companies, governments, insurers and emergency services. A thermal runaway, in which a battery heats up uncontrollably and can catch fire, is difficult to manage. As electrification increases, emergency services are also more frequently confronted with incidents involving batteries, from electric scooters and vehicles to homes with battery storage systems. Standardised procedures for such situations do not yet always exist.

That is why the need is growing for realistic training scenarios, test cases and better substantiated risk analyses for new infrastructure such as energy hubs, parking garages and storage installations.
 

Bringing research and practice closer together

Through this collaboration, VITO/EnergyVille, PLOT and Brandweerzone Oost-Limburg are bringing research and practice directly together. In doing so, VITO/EnergyVille builds on many years of expertise in battery research, modelling and testing.

The collaboration makes it possible to carry out realistic thermal runaway tests in a safe practical environment, for scenarios that are difficult to realise in a conventional laboratory. At the same time, the intervention experience and insights of the fire service strengthen VITO/EnergyVille’s research.

For the fire service and the fire academy, the collaboration also creates additional opportunities to further develop knowledge and training on battery fires. This helps emergency services better prepare for interventions involving electric vehicles, home batteries, e-bikes and storage installations, while also giving them more insight into battery behaviour during a thermal runaway.
 

Knowledge building and new projects

Together, the partners want to set up new research projects on thermal runaway, fire development and escalation, detection and monitoring, intervention strategies, containment and cooling, and the impact on soil and air. Over time, the knowledge built up can contribute to safety guidelines and best practices.

The collaboration also offers prospects for companies. The test site can be used for thermal runaway testing of products, safety solutions and risk management concepts under realistic conditions. This gives companies, insurers and governments objective data on battery safety, helping to make products, installations and procedures safer.
 

A safe energy transition requires well-founded knowledge

Through this collaboration, VITO/EnergyVille, PLOT and Brandweerzone Oost-Limburg are strengthening battery safety in Flanders. The shared knowledge contributes to guidelines, training and concrete solutions, and in doing so to safer products, better substantiated risk analyses and stronger preparedness among emergency services. This is essential for the further rollout of the energy transition.

“Batteries are indispensable for the energy transition. That is precisely why safe use requires well-founded knowledge, realistic testing and close cooperation with emergency services. Together with PLOT and Brandweerzone Oost-Limburg, we bring those elements together. In this way, we are building the expertise in Flanders that is needed to better understand battery risks, manage them more effectively and translate them into guidelines, training and concrete solutions,” says Sofie Ignoul of VITO/EnergyVille.

“This new collaboration offers major added value for us as the PLOT fire academy. By bringing together knowledge and expertise, we are gaining new insights into battery fires. Those insights are crucial for our training programmes and also for the emergency responders we train,” says Laura Olaerts, provincial deputy for Safety and PLOT.

“Those who invest in insight today prevent unnecessary risks tomorrow. Especially with new technologies such as battery storage systems, knowledge is our strongest form of fire prevention,” concludes Dominic Knapen, zone commander of Brandweerzone Oost-Limburg.

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