The decision by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council Limited (AFAC), and by various fire services across the country, to designate electric vehicles as ‘special hazards’, imposes elaborate and expensive fire protection requirements on residential strata buildings. This position appears to have been made without adequate consultation or an analysis of the risk and benefits across the community.
OCN joins the Electric Vehicle Council to call on:
• AFAC and the various fire services to reconsider their positions, which do not appear to properly assess the thoroughly documented negligible risk of an EV fire while it’s charging.
• Relevant State and Federal Government departments and agencies to clarify that applying ‘special hazard’ provisions to building car parks, purely based on the expected presence of electric vehicles or their supporting charging infrastructure, is not appropriate; and
• legislating to exempt electric vehicle charging from inclusion in regulations such as the AFSS and fire orders.
Related content:> https://ocn.org.au/inquiry-into-the-transition-to-electric-vehicles/
