Battery storage

EnergyVille and the fire brigade team up to tackle battery safety

What happens when a battery overheats, catches fire or puts other systems at risk? To better understand those risks and prepare for them, EnergyVille is bringing research, test infrastructure and practical expertise together.
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From electric vehicles and e-bikes to home batteries and large-scale storage, batteries are becoming part of everyday life. At the same time, concerns about battery safety are growing. That is especially true in cases of thermal runaway, where a battery enters an uncontrolled chain reaction, overheats and may ignite. In those situations, the risks are difficult to predict and even harder to contain.

Within its Battery Storage research line, EnergyVille has built up many years of expertise in battery research, modelling, and evaluation. In 2025, that work took an important step closer to practical application with the development of a unique test environment for controlled safety testing, created together with PLOT Limburg, the Province of Limburg’s training centre, and Fire Brigade Zone East Limburg. This test environment enables realistic safety tests that would be difficult to carry out in a conventional laboratory.

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Batteries are essential to the energy transition. That is exactly why safe use depends on solid knowledge, realistic testing and close collaboration with emergency services. Together with PLOT and Fire Brigade Zone East Limburg, we are bringing those elements together. In doing so, we are helping build the expertise in Flanders needed to better understand battery risks, manage them more effectively, and translate that knowledge into guidelines, training and practical solutions

Sofie Ignoul EnergyVille

Sofie Ignoul

 

The collaboration creates value in multiple ways. Researchers gain a better understanding of how batteries behave in real incidents, while fire services and training partners can strengthen their knowledge and preparedness through well-founded testing. But the infrastructure is also available to companies to independently test prototypes, products or safety solutions before progressing to often costly certification procedures. In this way, EnergyVille helps companies identify battery risks earlier, more accurately and more objectively.

Test infrastructure for battery safety

To study battery safety in depth, EnergyVille is continuing to invest in dedicated test infrastructure. In 2025, the procurement process began for a battery X-ray tester, which is expected to become operational in 2026. It will allow researchers to look inside batteries without opening them. At the same time, the battery test lab was recognised as test infrastructure within DIANA, NATO’s accelerator programme.

Knowledge hub for battery and fire safety 

In 2025, plans also began to take shape for a broader knowledge hub on batteries and fire safety. Its aim is to support companies, emergency services, and public authorities with independent expertise, guidelines, and practical tools. A Deep Dive on battery and fire safety, organised by VITO and KU Leuven within EnergyVille, helped lay the groundwork for that next step.