When a lithium-ion battery enters thermal runaway, the result is a fire that can't be put out. For automotive manufacturing and testing facilities, the only effective response is to get the vehicle out — fast. Find out how Stringo developed a solution in close collaboration with industry partners, and how automotive customers are responding to it.
Phil Glover is Sales & Technical Director at Rod Brown Engineering, Stringo's long-standing UK partner. In his conversations with automotive customers, he's seen a clear increase in demand for solutions that protect the workforce, as well as facilities, from the risks of thermal runaway. Instead of the operational roles typically involved in purchasing vehicle movers, these initiatives often come from those responsible for health, safety and protecting the business.
"Established manufacturers have been under pressure to get their EVs on the market to keep up with the competition. As a result, there’s been a lot of intense testing and homologation going on," Phil explains. “Cars are tested to their extremes, in facilities that are worth millions of pounds and where thousands of people work every day. From a business protection perspective, there’s a great deal at stake.”
A solution developed together with the industry
Whenever there’s a challenge related to vehicle moving, the industry turns to Stringo. The thermal runaway issue is no exception, as Stringo’s CTO Magnus Grafström explains:
“We were approached by health and safety experts who wanted us to come up with a technical solution that could help tackle the risks. Together with a car manufacturer, we developed a prototype that we tested and validated on site.”
The solution — known as Thermal Runaway Enhancement Kit (TREK) — is now available as an add-on to the Stringo models S5 PLUS and S5 4WM. The kit builds on capabilities previously developed by Stringo to support the shift to EVs, such as handling the added weight of battery-heavy vehicles, moving cars with all four wheels locked, and remote-control operation.
The TREK also includes steel plates for added heat protection and safety valves on the press arm cylinders. In combination, these features enable what can be described as an emergency evacuation function.
“The main purpose is to make sure the vehicle mover will finish the job, no matter the conditions. We're not talking about day-to-day operations, but emergency scenarios where the risk of thermal runaway is identified. In those situations, you can't have the machine stopping halfway, or letting go of the car. It has to keep going until the vehicle has been brought to a safe location,” Magnus explains.
Protecting people and property when every second counts
For Phil Glover at Rod Brown Engineering, the TREK means he can offer his customers a time- and cost-effective way to mitigate a risk with potentially catastrophic consequences.
"Using a Stringo to remove the vehicle from a building is a far simpler proposition than evacuating thousands of people. And the companies, not to mention their insurers, would much rather replace a Stringo and one car than the entire facility,” he says — adding that a safe and quick evacuation relies on more than the vehicle mover itself:
“You need to have entry and exit points that are kept clear at all times. That’s basic safety standard in any workplace. The thermal runaway hazard just makes it more critical. Because if a vehicle is at risk of reaching that stage, every second counts.”
“There were a lot of open mouths in the crowd”
Although the clear value proposition makes TREK “an easy sale” according to Phil, seeing is believing. He recalls a product demonstration where a team from Stringo and Rod Brown Engineering had been invited by a major UK car manufacturer to showcase the TREK solution on a live production line. Their time slot for the task? Seven minutes.
“That might seem little, but considering it meant pausing a line that runs at thousands of pounds a minute, it was a considerable investment on their part,” Phil points out.
People from other sites and departments, including health and safety and business protection, had been brought in to watch the demo.
“When they saw how we were able to evacuate a vehicle in just 21 seconds, there were a lot of open mouths in the crowd. And then literally bang on the seven minutes, the track started up again and everyone was back building cars,” he says.
After the show-stopping performance, the order was a done deal.
“In fact, the manufacturer decided to make the TREK a baseline requirement for all vehicle movers delivered to their facilities going forward,” Phil concludes.
