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- Modified Toyota Hilux fire truck features Coldcut Cobra system for extinguishing EV battery fires at an early stage.
- The 6x6 conversion increases the payload of the truck, while giving it great flexibility off-road.
- The truck is small enough to get into basement and multi-story parking structures, where regular fire trucks cannot enter.
The electrification age has brought with it not only new car manufacturing techniques, but also new types of car accidents. Early on, fire departments around the US took some time to adapt to traffic accidents involving EVs, not only when it comes to battery fires, but also in finding and disconnecting the 12-volt batteries and handling other systems in instances when there isn't a fire.
Car manufacturers have since made a lot of training documents available to first responders around the country, detailing various access points on EVs. But this doesn't mean battery fires have become easier to fight, still requiring up to 8000 gallons of water in instances when first responders actually decided to put the fire out, instead of letting it burn out over several hours. Getting to the scene of the fire itself can often be tricky for firefighters, in instances when EV fires erupt in multi-level garage structures or basement garages.
A new type of fire truck has been developed by UK-based Prospeed Motorsport specifically for EV battery fires early on in the process, to prevent the fire from spreading.
Based on a modified 6x6 version of the Toyota Hilux pickup with a new chassis, stretched by 48.4 inches, the Hiload 6x6 fire truck is small enough to enter parking structures. The truck features the Coldcut Cobra system for fighting EV battery fires, which uses an abrasive suspended in water that can cut through the floor pan of an EV and inject water at a pressure of 300 bar (that's over 100 times the pressure of air in a car tire) into the battery module in case of a thermal runaway. This has the effect of cooling the battery inside the module and preventing the spread of a battery fire.
"Unlike alternatives which involve pumping thousands of liters of water into the vehicle in an attempt to cool the whole battery, independent tests from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency showed the Coldcut Cobra system could prevent cell propagation within 10 minutes, using just 240 liters of water—that's less than a bath-full and 20% of the Hiload's tank capacity," Prospeed notes.
The truck offers a payload of 6613 pounds, which is about triple that of a standard Hilux, and features a 12,346-pound gross vehicle weight rating. What's more, the truck is far more nimble off-road than most others and can travel easily over unpaved surfaces, while being light enough to not get bogged down on farmland due to its weight. With a height of 72.8 inches, it's also short enough to enter most garage structures. And it's just as effective for fighting internal-combustion vehicle fires, the company says, even though it is intended primarily for EV fires.
The truck is currently undergoing testing in the Czech Republic, with its developer also working on a version with even more payload capacity.
We're more than a few years away from every fire department being able to quickly extinguish EV battery fires at various stages. A fire truck may well have equipment on board, but if that equipment isn't mobile enough to get into a parking structure, this greatly limits first responders' options.
"Previous ways of preventing this or fighting the fire involve extreme measures such as immersing the entire car in water for days in large bags or shipping containers," Prospeed notes.
One EV manufacturer has already purchased Prospeed's Hiload 6x6.
Has the threat of EV battery fires prevented you from considering buying an EV, or is it not a major concern? Let us know in the comments below.
Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum. Despite being followed around by French cars for the past decade, he has somehow been able to avoid Citroën ownership, judging them too commonplace, and is currently looking at cars from the former Czechoslovakia. Jay has been with Autoweek since 2013.
