Paris - English Summary
Technical inquiry report on the fires of two electric buses which occurred on April 4 and 29, 2022 in Paris.
On Monday, April 4, 2022, at around 4:00 p.m., an electric bus belonging to the Parisian Transport Authority (RATP) caught fire on Boulevard Saint-Germain, near the "Maubert-Mutualité" stop, while carrying 14 passengers.
On Friday, April 29, 2022, a second RATP bus, of the same model as the previous one, caught fire on Avenue de France in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, while parked at the "Bibliothèque François Mitterrand" terminus. In both cases, no passengers were injured, but both vehicles were completely destroyed.
These two incidents led RATP to immediately withdraw from the operating fleet all vehicles of the same model, which were part of an order for 150 vehicles, some of which were currently being manufactured.
The most likely direct cause of these fires was an inter-cell short circuit characterized by thermal runaway in the high-voltage batteries that power the motors of these fully electric vehicles. Investigations revealed that this cause lay in the battery manufacturing process. This finding led the manufacturer, in agreement with the French Vehicle and Engine Market Surveillance Service (SSMVM), to initiate a recall for owners of batteries of the same type and for owners of vehicles equipped with them.
The investigations were difficult, as the components equipping the burning vehicles were almost entirely destroyed and could therefore no longer provide usable information. These fires broke out in vehicles using recent and innovative technology. They present specific characteristics, such as widespread fires that occur within seconds, great difficulty in extinguishing them quickly and completely, and significant risks for emergency personnel and the immediate environment. The innovative nature of the technologies used also highlights a delay in defining the technical regulations applied to these modern vehicles during their certification.
For these reasons, the BEA-TT makes seven recommendations and two invitations to the entities concerned to prevent the recurrence of such events, which, due to their kinetics, could have had much more serious consequences.
This investigation was produced in conjunction with the BEA-RI, which has also opened several other investigations into battery fires in industrial settings. These investigations focus on shock resistance, storage, starting, and extinguishing conditions for different types of batteries.
It takes into account the analyses conducted by INERIS and the LCPP, and also reports on those conducted by the manufacturer. As the exclusive owner of the technology involved, the manufacturer was understandably the most motivated and best equipped to carry them out, and it demonstrated sufficient cooperation.
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