Disconnected Electrical Vehicle Charger in Storage Catches Fire

Location: Langley

Regulated industry sector: Electrical

Incident overview

In July 2025, multiple EV chargers manufactured by Freewire Technologies were decommissioned and transported to a storage yard in Langley, BC while still retaining an estimated 70–80% battery charge. They were stored outdoors for several months without active battery management, monitoring, or maintenance. During this time, possible water ingress combined with the lack of thermal and battery monitoring may have damaged the battery packs.

On the day of the incident, a fire ignited in one stored unit and escalated into repeated thermal runaway events, requiring multiple fire suppression efforts as the battery continued to reignite and off-gas. Contributing factors included storage of high-energy batteries without discharge or monitoring, loss of the BMS safety controls, and lack of inspections that could have identified compromised weatherproofing or other hazards.