Electric Bus Fire Prevention and Risk Management

The objective of this research is to develop a guide to lithium-ion battery transit bus fire prevention and risk management with recommended practices for original equipment manufacturers, battery companies, transit agency facilities, and vehicle maintenance. The focus should be on zero-emission transit bus fire prevention and risk management. A parallel project is addressing power generation, distribution, and charging infrastructure; institutional relations; and operations. At a minimum, the research team shall (1) review the potential root causes of ZEB lithium-ion battery fires, including an analysis of the potential of such fires to spread to other vehicles or reignite after suppression; (2) evaluate risk mitigation options; (3) identify, evaluate, and summarize effective practices for fire risk mitigation and suppression, focusing on agencies that store and charge their buses in indoor facilities; (4) identify quantitative and qualitative metrics that can be used to evaluate vehicle and battery performance as they relate to fire and life safety; and (5) address the technical, economic, and institutional barriers to implementing identified solutions.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5258
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $350000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project E-14

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Parker, Stephan

• Start Date: 20221108
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Electric buses; Fire prevention; Lithium batteries; Risk management; Transit safety; Vehicle fires
• Subject Areas: Energy; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01789266
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project E-14
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 22 2021 10:05PM