In the near future, electric powered vehicles will represent a major part of the road traffic. Accordingly, there will be a natural increase of accidents involving electric vehicles. There are not many cases of such accidents yet and therefore the experience and correct handling are still partially open points for the involved parties, such as the rescue services for example. The aim of this work is to provide a complete overview of the accident handling sequence in Germany, starting with the damaged vehicle on site and moving on to the risks and challenges for the stakeholders, such as transport and recycling companies. Arising from the developed overview, a handling recommendation for yet undiscussed points is given. Especially, different extinguishing and deactivation methods are compared and discussed. Due to a lack of a common live-feed from battery data on site, other criteria have to be taken into account to assess the state of the battery. The wrecked vehicle—including the high voltage system—needs to be in a definite safe state at the handover to a towing service. Depending on the case, different options for securing the vehicle will be considered in this work.

Accidental damage to electric vehicle batteries can poses an unknown safety risk and, as such, they are placed in a container filled with water. The present study investigates the extent to which a battery stored under water may still react in the case of an event. The focus of this study was to find out if hydrofluoric acid (HF) is formed after nail penetration of small lithium-ion battery cells under water. Three different states of charge (SoC) were examined: 0%, 50%, and 100%, to determine how strongly HF formation depends on this parameter. The test was repeated three times at each SoC level. The highest formation of HF was found at a SoC of 100%. Despite the use of the same cells, the same and mostly automatically procedure, a high variation of fluoride concentration was observed for 100% SoC. The cells with a SoC levels at 0% and 50% showed quite low fluoride concentrations. Overall, it was concluded that the low reactivity of the cells was caused by the surrounding water.

Internal combustion engine vehicles and electric vehicles share many similarities in the event of a vehicle fire but also differ in certain aspects. While both vehicle types release pollutants typical of vehicle fires, fires involving electric vehicles also emit battery-specific emissions. To investigate hazardous-substance exposure of emergency responders, two fire tests were carried out on identical electric vehicles. In each test, one battery cell was mechanically short-circuited, resulting in thermal runaway and propagation within the battery. Gas and time-resolved aerosol measurements, wipe samples, extinguishing agent samples, and urine samples were analyzed. A primary finding was the pronounced variability between the two fire events: despite comparable test conditions, the two vehicle fires exhibited markedly different development patterns, highlighting the inherent variability of electric vehicle fire behavior. Wipe samples showed increased metal concentrations after the tests, with maximum post-extinguishing surface concentrations of 7.4 mg/m² nickel, 17.45 mg/m² cobalt, and 14.25 mg/m² lithium. Extinguishing agent samples showed increased concentrations of inorganic contaminants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Urine samples showed no indication of a systematic increase in creatinine-adjusted metal concentrations among protected participants. Toxic gases were released immediately after cell short-circuiting, with hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen cyanide, and acetylene reaching approximately 500 ppm before visible flames occurred. Aerosol measurements identified transiently elevated particle number concentrations in the exterior near-field environment and, in one test, inside the passenger compartment, where a shift towards smaller particle diameters was observed. The findings demonstrate multiple responder-relevant exposure pathways and substantial variability in electric vehicle fire events.