Converted Hilux truck tackles EV fires 

A British company has developed a specially designed fire truck to extinguish electric vehicle and car park fires. 

The Hiload 6×6 Rapid Intervention Vehicle (RIV) is engineered by Prospeed Motorsport in York, England, using a Toyota Hilux as a base.

With the growing number of electric vehicles on the roads, it is causing concern among fire fighters about how to deal with them in emergency situations. 

Although electric vehicles are statistically less likely to catch fire than an internal combustion engine car, incidents involving a lithium-ion battery can be far more serious and difficult to extinguish – especially if in an enclosed space such as an underground or multi-storey car park which large fire engines cannot access.

Once a battery pack has been compromised by an accident or external fire, it can be difficult to tackle the resulting blaze as the energy contained with the cells is released, causing a ‘thermal runaway’. 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.

The Hiload 6×6 Rapid Intervention Vehicle has been designed to tackle these incidents in a more practical way and can carry crew, water and innovative fire extinguishing equipment to previously inaccessible locations.

The 6×6 has a rated 5600kg gross vehicle weight, which offers 3000kg payload – almost triple the standard 4×4 Hilux’s capacity, and the load-space is also extended by 1230mm.

Although longer, the Hiload’s height is just 1850mm – less than some large SUVs and low enough to allow access to the majority of parking structures. It also results in a lower centre of gravity and better stability in high-speed manoeuvres.

Among the other equipment which the increased payload helps carry, the vehicle can be fitted with the Coldcut Cobra system for extinguishing EV battery fires.

The system uses an abrasive suspended in water to pierce a hole through floor pans and inject water at 300bar – more than 100 times the pressure of the air in a typical car tyre – throughout the module casing . This water cools directly inside the battery and prevents propagation and further possibility of a thermal runaway.

Unlike alternatives which involve pumping thousands of litres 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 litres of water – less than a bath-full and 20% of the Hiload’s tank capacity.

A Hiload is currently being trialled in the Czech Republic, with the vehicle specifically developed to tackle EV battery fires and assist with fast response occupant extraction. It is already part of one EV car manufacturer’s firefighting fleet.

Prospeed is also working in the defence market to offer a 4×4 Hiload with a 5000kg GVW and a 6×6 variant with 6500Kg GVW as part of a light utility vehicle fleet, which will replace ageing Land Rover Defender and Pinzgauer fleets.

Prospeed can ship the 6×6 conversion as a module for final assembly in an export market. 

The design can also be licensed for higher volume production.