EV fire in underground parking lot in Incheon raises fears about safety of EVs

Police officers and firefighters are conducting a joint inspection at an underground parking lot of an apartment in Incheon, where a Mercedes-Benz electric car parked caught fire on August 1. Yonhap News

Ms. Yoon (27), an office worker who was considering buying an electric car for her first car, changed her mind after hearing about an electric car fire in an underground parking lot of an apartment building in Cheongna-dong, western Incheon, on August 1. "I saw a picture of an electric car exploding and burning down the entire underground parking lot,” Yoon said on the 4th, adding, "I decided to reconsider buying an electric car because an electric car fire can be very dangerous once it breaks out."

According to the announcement by the fire department and the police, the fire started when smoke was emitted from an electric car parked in an underground parking lot of an apartment building and then suddenly exploded. The blaze burned for eight hours and 20 minutes before it was extinguished, destroying 40 nearby cars and damaging more than 100 others. Twenty-two residents were taken to the hospital and 480 homes in five apartment buildings lost power. The public was shocked when it was confirmed that the explosion did not occur in an electric vehicle that was charging or in an accident, as initially thought, but rather in a vehicle that was parked safely.

Moreover, the fire further increased anxiety as it was a large fire caused by an electric car that occurred shortly after the fire at the lithium battery plant Aricell in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, which caused massive casualties in June.

Lee Shin-hyung (30), who lives in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, said, "It was horrifying to think that a fire caused by lithium batteries can break out not only in industrial complexes but also anywhere in the city where apartments are located. It is scary to think that it could happen at any time, even in the underground parking lot where I live now."

The widespread use of electric cars is leading to an increasing number of fire accidents. According to the Science and Technology Policy Institute, the number of electric vehicle fires increased each year, with 11 cases in 2020, 24 cases in 2021, 44 cases in 2022, and 72 cases in 2023. From 2018 to 2023, the number of fires per 10,000 internal combustion engine vehicles decreased from 2.2 cases to 1.9 cases, but the number of electric vehicle fires increased from 0.4 cases to 1.3 cases during the same period.

As recent accidents have shown, electric vehicle fires are much more damaging and destructive, and there are voices calling for urgent maintenance of the system to prevent fires. If an electric vehicle fire breaks out in an underground parking lot, the difficulties encountered in the process of extinguishing the fire increase. Instead of powder fire extinguishers, electric vehicle fires can be extinguished with large equipment such as mobile fire tanks that can immerse the entire vehicle, but it is not easy to bring equipment into underground parking lots. In the event of a fire, toxic gases from lithium batteries can fill underground parking lots, which are not easily ventilated.

Therefore, it is recommended to park electric vehicles in surface parking lots, but it is not effective. The Eco-friendly Vehicle Act mandates the installation of electric vehicle chargers in apartments with more than 100 units, but it does not distinguish between above-ground and underground parking lots. In addition to the fact that many new apartments are not equipped with surface parking lots, there are concerns that banning underground parking for electric cars could intensify conflicts between residents and hinder the spread of them.

Experts said that even if it is an underground parking lot, a realistic alternative is to designate a section for electric vehicles only. Gong Ha-sung, a professor of fire prevention at Woosuk University, said, "First of all, we need to make sure there is a parking area for electric cars, and then install large-capacity sprinklers, shutters, and other shut out systems and air exhaustion systems. We also need to raise awareness of safety related to electric vehicles and work hard to develop safe lithium batteries."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.