BACKGROUND

Due to lithium-ion battery fires, electric vehicles (EVs) present unique challenges in traffic incident management (TIM) and emergency management (EM). TIM is a planned and coordinated multidisciplinary process aimed at detecting, responding to, and clearing traffic incidents while restoring traffic flow as safely and quickly as possible. In TIM, many state departments of transportation (DOTs) have safety service patrols (SSPs) that offer services ranging from courtesy patrols, which provide simple motorist assistance, to more advanced services involving aggressive roadway clearance of disabled or wrecked vehicles. EM is a programmatic activity with a comprehensive approach to the full cycle of prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery of all hazards (including natural and manmade disasters), accidental disruptions, and other emergencies. 

State DOTs encounter EV fires in both TIM and EM situations. During an SSP response, an EV fire may influence whether the vehicle is pushed, pulled, dragged, or driven. Safety concerns arise regarding the personal protective equipment used for responding to EV fires, as well as considerations for transporting or storing EVs after a fire. Additionally, the risks posed by lithium-ion battery fires affect state DOTs as they electrify their fleets and store the vehicles. EV fires can affect infrastructure (e.g., pavement and bridges), have environmental impacts, and sometimes require warning people nearby. EM situations can become cascading events that make responding to EV fires more difficult (e.g., EV fires during earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes). Further, EV fires require different considerations depending on whether they occur in urban, rural, or remote areas.

Research is needed to support state DOTs as they manage lithium-ion battery EV fires during situations ranging from normal TIM to situations where hazards, accidental disruptions, and other emergencies are cascading events.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop a toolkit that addresses the risks, opportunities, solutions, and costs associated with lithium-ion battery EV fires. The research shall consider the all-hazards approach to EM and its cycle.

At a minimum, the toolkit shall address:

• Lessons learned from literature, the state of the practice, and the public and private sectors, both domestically and internationally
• Best, emerging, and novel practices and protocols
• The scale, severity, and cost of lithium-ion battery EV fires
• Practices, methods, and materials for suppressing
• lithium-ion battery EV fires
• battery energy storage system fires
• Guidelines for
• Responding to lithium-ion battery EV fires during TIM and EM situations
• Infrastructure prevention, protection, mitigation, and recovery (including damage assessment and repair) from lithium-ion battery EV fires
• Stockpiling lithium-ion battery EV fire suppression materials
• Scenarios for conducting practice drills for state DOT emergency responders during lithium-ion battery fires
• Brief documentation targeting primary and secondary audiences
• Equity implications, including danger avoidance and impacted parties
• Public-facing educational and outreach materials for lithium-ion battery EV fires

The primary audience for the toolkit includes state DOT employees responsible for TIM, SSPs, fleet management and operations, facilities management, evacuation planning, EM, and state EV planning. The secondary audience includes traffic incident responders from all disciplines, state emergency operations centers, state emergency managers, state environmental services, and state departments of energy. 

RESEARCH PLAN

Proposers are asked to develop and present a detailed research plan for accomplishing the project objective. The work proposed must be divided into tasks and proposers must describe the work proposed in each task. Proposers are expected to present a research plan that can realistically be accomplished within the constraints of available funds and contract time. Proposals shall (1) present the proposer’s current thinking in sufficient detail to demonstrate their understanding of the topic and issues and the soundness of their approach to meeting the research objectives, (2) identify data and data sources that may be used to undertake this research, and (3) propose a format(s) for the final research product(s), which must include:

• An interim report and meeting with the NCHRP project panel. The interim report shall address (1) analyses and results of completed tasks, (2) a detailed plan and schedule for the remaining research tasks, (3) an annotated outline of each of the final research product(s), and (4) strategies for dissemination and implementation of the final research deliverables. The panel meeting will take place after the panel review of the interim report. The interim report and panel meeting shall occur after the expenditure of no more than 40 percent of the project budget.
• Additional interim deliverable(s) that can be published before the project is completed and a dissemination plan for those deliverables. These shall be approved by NCHRP before dissemination.
• Final deliverable(s) that present the entire research product and include a toolkit targeting different primary and secondary audiences.
• A PowerPoint presentation with presenter’s notes suitable for a webinar.
• A technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products”.

STATUS: Proposals have been received in response to the RFP. The project panel will meet to select a contractor to perform the work.