As electric vehicles (EVs) become increasingly popular, several emergency management-related issues have arisen, such as EV hazard events during storage and charging and EV use in extreme weather. Because the goal for many states is to rapidly increase the adoption and use of EVs in personal and public operations, it is essential to manage these EV incidents to keep the public and emergency responders safe and maintain operation of the transportation system. This is a new area of emergency management that would benefit from research on the causes of and best practices for containing EV incidents.

The objectives of this research are (1) to identify the risks of EV incidents and (2) to provide recommendations to mitigate the effects of these incidents. Key components of the research include:

• Identifying plans and designs of storage, parking, and charging facilities than can reduce damage to infrastructure and injuries to workers and the public.
• Providing guidance to emergency responders, especially state DOT responders, on securing scenes, handling battery fires, and moving damaged EVs safely.
• Developing strategies to mitigate the impacts of EV incidents on the transportation system, such as longer closure times for firefighting and infrastructure damage from battery fires.
• Identifying solutions for EV users during situations including extreme weather events, highway closures, battery failures on roadsides, and mass evacuation charging.