In short
- Government guidance on covered car parks recommends a competent fire risk assessment before installing chargepoints.
- Measures to consider include an emergency isolation switch, detection, sprinklers, smoke ventilation and wider bays.
- EV fires can need more firefighting water and produce contaminated run-off.
- The guidance is interim and not mandatory, but insurers and fire services expect it to be considered.
Are EVs more likely to catch fire?
The question that matters for a car park isn't only how often EVs catch fire, but how they burn. Battery fires can involve thermal runaway, release more toxic gases, reignite after being put out and need more water to control. In a covered or basement car park, under a building where people live or work, that changes the risk assessment.
The government's covered car park guidance
In July 2023 the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles published fire safety guidance for electric vehicles in covered car parks, updated in February 2024. It's for car park owners, operators, designers and fire risk assessors, and covers both retrofitting chargepoints and designing new car parks. It's interim guidance that doesn't replace existing regulations – but it's the recognised reference point.
What it recommends
Before installation
A competent fire risk assessor should assess the impact of chargepoints on existing fire safety measures and identify new or increased hazards before they're installed.
Measures to consider
- Emergency isolation: a manual switch to cut power to chargepoints, operable from a safe location and clearly labelled; automatic isolation can be linked to detection or suppression
- Detection: automatic fire detection and alarm, with thermal monitoring cameras as an option for early warning of battery problems
- Sprinklers: water-based suppression, weighed through cost-benefit analysis
- Smoke ventilation: enhanced smoke management, because EV fires release more toxic gases
- Spacing: larger bays, or repainted bays, to reduce fire spread between cars, and fire-resisting construction between bays
- Siting: chargepoints positioned so cables aren't driven over or a trip hazard
- Firefighting: review water supplies (the guidance refers to BS 9990), drainage for run-off, headroom for recovering burnt vehicles, and information for the fire service
- Security: signage, CCTV and management to deter damage to chargepoints
Applying the guidance to EV charging in car parks
Every car park is different. Key questions in an assessment:
- Where's the car park? Under flats, offices or a shopping centre? Open-sided or enclosed?
- What's already there? Existing ventilation, detection, sprinklers and compartmentation.
- How many chargepoints, where, and of what type?
- How does an EV fire affect escape from the building above?
- Can firefighters get in, isolate power and recover a vehicle?
- What do insurers require? Their requirements may go further than the guidance.
New buildings
Approved Document S requires EV charging infrastructure in many new buildings. If you're designing a car park, the fire strategy should address EV charging from the start – it's much cheaper than retrofitting. See our fire strategy reports.
Retrofitting chargepoints: a practical sequence
- Assess first. Review the car park's existing fire strategy, ventilation, detection and suppression.
- Choose locations carefully. Consider proximity to exits, escape routes, the building above and fire service access – and avoid creating trip hazards.
- Design isolation. Provide a clearly labelled emergency isolation switch in a safe location.
- Decide on additional measures – detection, suppression, ventilation, spacing – based on the assessment.
- Tell the fire service what's been installed and where the isolation is.
- Update the fire risk assessment and management procedures.
- Review regularly as the number of EVs grows.
Questions insurers often ask
- How many chargepoints are there, and where?
- Is there sprinkler protection and automatic detection?
- How is power isolated in an emergency?
- Has a fire risk assessment considered the chargepoints?
Our EV, solar and battery fire risk assessments assess proposed and existing chargepoint installations against the government guidance and your building's fire strategy.
How we can help
We match each project to a qualified specialist and confirm the scope, the named professional and a fixed fee before you commit.
Sources
- GOV.UK – Covered car parks: fire safety guidance for electric vehicles
- FIA – Government guidelines for electric vehicles in parking locations
This guide is general information based on the law and guidance in England as at 8 November 2026. It isn't legal advice – for advice on a specific building, get in touch.