Electric Vehicle Turned Away From Hospital Car Park

A father taking his son to a children’s hospital in Liverpool said he was turned away from a parking lot because he was driving an electric vehicle that “might catch fire”.

Paul Freeman-Powell said he was told by a security guard at Alder Hey children’s hospital to park outside the lot because of a fire or explosion danger posed by the EV’s battery.

Alder Hey hospital confirmed it has temporarily bannd EVs from one of its smaller car parks while it upgrades the lot’s sprinkler system.

In a statement the hospital said that on advice from Merseyside Fire and Rescue it had “temporarily restricted the parking of electric vehicles in one of our smaller car parks while we upgrade its fire sprinkler system”.

‘No electric vehicles’

It said EVs are allowed in the main hospital car park and noted that the lot has 14 spaces equipped with EV charging points.

On X, formerly Twitter, Freeman-Powell shared a photo of car park signs reading “no electric vehicles”.

Stories of electric vehicles catching fire or exploding appear regularly in the media, but EV makers and industry groups say petrol-powered cars are far more likely to catch fire.

A study last year by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency found that there were 3.8 fires per 100,000 electric or hybrid cars in 2022, compared to 68 fires per 100,000 for all fuel types, with the latter figures including arson.

‘Health benefits’

Fair Change, a campaign group for electric vehicles, said the EV ban was an example of “misinformation erroneously shaping public policy” and conflicted with the clean air and health benefits of EVs.

In January Volkswagen was reported to be in talks with France’s Blue Solutions to adapt its solid-state bus batteries for use in passenger cars, adopting a technology that potentially offers lower fire risk and greater range than conventional EV batteries.