As an initiative to ensure maximum safety for passengers and drivers, Mowasalat (Karwa) organized the first ever firefighting training in Qatar for electric vehicles, especially for those with lithium-ion batteries, in cooperation with a specialized US company.
The training was conducted over four days at the Mowasalat Headquarters and at Ras Laffan.
The event was attended by a diverse group of Mowasalat staff together with representatives from the General Directorate of Civil Defence. During the four-day exercise, the attendees were trained for the management of a variety of disaster situations, from full-scale electric vehicle crash damage to multiple ignition scenarios associated with electric vehicles. The training prop bus to facilitate the practical training was supplied by Yutong Buses for performing emergency operation techniques in a controlled set-up.
The first day was spent with an overview of electric vehicles, followed by discussions on electric vehicle safety and lithium-ion battery fire behaviour. The second training day focused on electric vehicle shutdown and hazard management, with a special focus on passenger and special needs passengers’ evacuation.
The following two days were focused more on practical sessions conducted at the live site. The attendees were trained with a live burning battery and were instructed on fire suppression tactics and operations. The concluding day of the training also integrated Civil Defence support with water extinguishers, extrication, and hand tools to access areas of the burnt bus and the lithium-ion battery.
The attendees learnt to apply “forced-entry” operations for gas sampling and rapid access to the external compartment doors, housing the battery. The simulation taught the attendees the mechanism of using water flow without touching the burnt battery.
Speaking on completion of the training, Fahad Al Qahtani, CEO of Mowasalat said, “Our unfailing commitment towards seeing a greener public transport system in Qatar has inspired us to proactively deploy our new fleet of eco-friendly zero-emission electric buses on our streets. At the same time, we remain acutely conscious of the health and safety interests of both our drivers and passengers and continuously aim to ensure that our teams are equipped with the knowledge of appropriate safety protocols and incident management and response capabilities. It is with this intent that we undertook the joint firefighting training exercise, thereby significantly enhancing the internal capacity of our teams to master the latest techniques of disaster management, specifically concerning possible adversities related to electric vehicles.”
After the training, and in line with Mowasalat’s commitment to sustainability, particular emphasis was placed on waste management and disposal of burnt lithium-ion batteries and the waste generated from the simulation and practical sessions. This was also in line with Mowasalat’s vision to achieve circularity in the country’s public transportation by recycling or repurposing used batteries, tyres, and other parts of used buses.