MotoE Bikes Burned!

Huge Jerez Fire Destroys MotoE Bikes and Equipment; Opening Race Cancelled

The first day of testing in 2019 for the MotoE championship had been completed, and the bikes parked in the paddock at Jerez, when an extremely intense fire erupted and consumed many of the race bikes and important support equipment (see photos). The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

This has led to the cancellation of the season-opener scheduled at Jerez for the weekend of May 3 through 5. A Dorna statement indicates that “no motorcycles were charging at the time” the fire broke out, but the cause of the fire is still unknown. A revised 2019 MotoE calendar will be announced in “due course” … so we should see racing this year in the new MotoE category.

The intensity of the fire that destroyed the bikes and equipment highlights a reality when dealing with lithium ion batteries and fires. You can read a more detailed explanation on the GPOne site, but electrical fires involving the decomposition of lithium, in essence, cannot be fought with water … which will only exacerbate the fire. According to the GPOne article, fire fighters in California are trained to simply contain an electrical fire, and allow the fire to burn itself out. The burning of a lithium ion battery also releases toxic gasses, according to GPOne.

The most common cause of an electric vehicle fire is mechanical impact, i.e., a crash. Looks like the MotoE organizers need to plan for some contingencies that ICE race series need not be concerned with.