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Safety of electric car charging stations

In order to secure rescue operations, the safety arrangements of the charging stations of electric cars must take the following factors into account.

  • The rescue services must be provided with the ability to de-energise all charging points from a single location, for example from a safety switch or the main switch of the charging station.
  • The location must be easily accessible from the outside and well-marked.
  • The location may be, for example, next to the fire alarm system control unit or in an easily accessible main distribution room.
  • The location diagrams of the fire alarm and the site information form must contain information about the charging points and the location of their safety switch.
  • If the property does not have an automatic fire alarm system, a separate instruction document must be prepared for the rescue department and placed in a prominent location along the fire extinguishing route.
  • Charging points for electric vehicles must be located within 10 metres of any area classified as having explosion hazards or at a distance defined in the ATEX document.
  • When adding charging points, it must be ensured that the property’s electrical connection can handle, for example, the use of smoke extraction fans when all charging points are in use.

Good practices

Safety practices that are recommended to be implemented where possible.

  • Charging points should be located close to exit and entry routes to make it easier to tow an electric car out of the garage, if necessary.
  • Electric car charging points must not be adjacent to each other, especially if the space does not have an automatic fire extinguishing system. This is to prevent the simultaneous ignition of several electric cars.
  • The introduction of charging points does not give rise to additional requirements for rescue equipment or first-aid fire-fighting equipment, so it is not required to place first-aid fire extinguishing equipment specifically designed for battery fires near electric car charging points.

Read more:

Rescue Act 379/2011, section 9
Ministry of the Environment Decree on the Fire Safety of Buildings 848/2017, section 40
Electric car charging stations on properties and taking into account the preconditions for rescue operations (PDF)