The increasing adoption of eHGVs will bring new risks that could see significantly higher asset and business continuity insurance costs unless operators take steps to address the hazards presented by large lithium batteries, according to global insurance broker and risk advisor WTW.
Addressing WTW’s second conference on managing the new risks posed by the growth in battery electric buses and trucks, Adrian Simmons, practice leader – property risk solutions at insurer QBE European Operations, warned that while a vehicle fire may not start on a BEV, once “thermal runaway” took hold the fire would propagate rapidly.
Fire brigades generally will not tackle lithium battery fires, especially in enclosed spaces, because of the risks to fire crews and will often just leave the fire to burn out. Their main concern will be securing the perimeter of the vehicle park and ensuring the fire does not spread to neighbouring sites. This could have devastating consequences if the BEV is parked too close to other vehicles.
“If they are parked less than 1m apart there is no chance of stopping propagation of the fire,” said Simmons. “We want to see 1.5m separation but 1.2m is the absolute minimum.”
Having proper supervision of BEVs during charging was also essential, and here AI could have a role to play to spot faults developing before they cause a fire. Linking vehicle alarms to the building fire alarm system would also give an early warning that something was amiss. Ideally the vehicle park should be covered by an automatic sprinkler system but unlike other parts of Europe these are rarely installed in the UK. “Sprinklers won’t stop a thermal runaway event but they can limit the damage,” Simmons said.
Shut-offs for the charging power should be easily accessible in the event of a fire, so not inside or next to charging bays.
Simmons also warned operators not to attempt to repair or replace batteries in their workshops, but to send them back to the manufacturer.
“You cannot reseal the battery packs back to the original IP rating,” he said. “Water will inevitably get in when the vehicle is used in the rain.”
He concluded that older batteries – considered to be more than eight years old – were more hazardous than newer products, and the next generation of batteries coming along would be safer still as a fire would not result in thermal runaway.
Ian Downie, head of Yutong UK at Pelican Bus and Coach, the UK importer of Yutong electric buses and trucks, said the Chinese manufacturer and its battery supplier CATL was already building vehicle batteries to strict new safety standards to be introduced in China next year.
These include surrounding the lithium iron phosphate batteries with inert nitrogen to reduce the risk of fires starting and strengthening the casings to reduce the likelihood of physical damage.
Pelican has been importing Yutong buses and coaches since 2014 and it has put over 1,000 electric vehicles on UK roads. This is however dwarfed by the 230,000 EVs Yutong has sold worldwide.
Pelican is now importing Yutong electric trucks and these will use the same CATL battery packs as its passenger vehicles. The first model, the 7.5 tonne TE7, was launched at Road Transport Expo in June this year. The 100kWh or 132kWh batteries will give a range of up to 180 miles and can be charged at up to 300kW DC using CCS connectors.
“Yutong was an early advocate for DC charging as it is safer than AC and the rest of the market has followed,” said Downie.
Matthew Deer, MD of Swain Group, outlined the challenges and opportunities of being an early adopter of electric trucks, which still lag far behind the numbers of buses and coaches in operation.
Kent-based Swain runs 750 trucks and is the leader in London construction logistics. It got its first EV in 2021 2023 as more customers started to enquire about how the company planned to reduce their Scope 3 carbon emissions.
“That first Volvo EV was an eye-opener for me,” said Deer. “It had to be charged overnight with a 43kW AC supply.”
Swain’s usual policy is to buy its vehicles outright and run them for three to five years but it is leasing its EVs over five seven years to reduce the impact of the three times higher upfront cost and uncertain residual values.
While some customers are open to discussions about putting an electric truck on their contract they can come up against a number of barriers.
“We come up against a problem with weight straight away,” said Deer. “A 6x2 44-tonne diesel tractor weighs around 8.5 tonnes compared with 10 tonnes for a EV. So that is 2 tonnes of payload lost.
“A 4x2 electric tractor can haul 40 tonnes with the 2-tonne derogation so again that is less weight and means we have to take off two or four pallets on every delivery. We also have to be very careful not to overload the drive axle.”
One solution is to install fewer batteries but that affects range, and with limited charging infrastructure that brings its own challenges.
Deer gave an example of an electric 4x2 able to charge at 200kW running 34 miles between a factory and a warehouse. In theory it should be able to do four runs per day, charging only at the warehouse, finishing back at base with 29% of its battery capacity. “But that would require 135 minutes charging and the driver only needs a 45 minute break,” said Deer. “We would need to charge at the factory too to make it work.”
But there are use cases where an electric 4x2 Volvo “works perfectly”, Deer said. He cited customer CPI Books which is the UK’s leading book printing service provider.
“It is only used on short journeys,” he said. “The customer loves it.”
Swain has also put an electric 4x2 on container work for customer Maersk, but with its 21-tonne payload limit a diesel 6x2 has been used on occasions to collect heavier boxes or those with an uneven weight distribution that overloads the single drive axle. “Maersk understands the complexity with this,” said Deer.
Swain has already tested the Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 and, by the end of November, five other OEMs’ EVs. “We will have trialled every 40-tonne electric tractor in 2025 to understand the differences”, Deer said.
Swain will be one of the first UK operators to get hold of an innovative Chinese truck made by Windrose. Resembling a Nikola with its aerodynamic cab, 6x2 versions are running in Sweden at 60 tonnes GVW.
Deer said electric trucks were constantly evolving and improving, saying Swain’s two-year old Volvo had a range of 300kms and could charge at a maximum of 240kW. Today’s version had a 500km range and could charge at 400kW, taking it from 20% to 80% battery capacity in less than hour.
He said there had also been “massive improvements” in charging infrastructure over the last two years, citing new charging facilities from Milence in Immingham, Shell at Markham Moor and Fleete in Tilbury. “We may park vehicles overnight to charge at Tilbury rather than bring back to our depot,” said Deer. “The Zehid programme will see 70 charge points added by 2030.”
He is encouraged by a new spirit of co-operation that is seeing operators share charging infrastructure. “That is a very different approach for this industry,” Deer said. “The big question now is ‘how much will it cost per kWh?’ Only then can then really determine the total cost of ownership.”
