Ejectable EV Battery Pack Does Not Solve Problems, But Creates Some

One of the most widely circulated myths is that electric car batteries are prone to catching fire, but this is not true at all, as many analyses of vehicle fires have confirmed. Combustion engine vehicles (note the name!) are around 70 times more prone to catching fire than electric cars, and hybrid vehicles are more than 100 times more prone.

Nevertheless, solutions are being sought, and one such solution was presented at an event in China. The Chinese Vehicle Collision Repair Technical and Research Center, together with Joyson Electronics, demonstrated an ejectable battery pack from a Chery iCar 03. Using gas pressure, a battery pack was ejected about three to six meters to the side of the vehicle with a loud bang.

This safety system is designed to activate when the vehicle detects thermal runaway in the battery, i.e., a possible battery fire. The aim is to protect the vehicle occupants. Unfortunately, however, this creates other problems. Anyone standing to the side of the vehicle is then confronted with the problem. Either they are crushed by the battery, which weighs several hundred kilograms, or their car is damaged by the force of the impact and then burns instead of the original vehicle. This solution creates more problems than it solves. For a problem that isn’t really a problem at all.

But it definitely makes for a cool video. And here is one of them:

This article was also published in German.