Dr Liam Knott is Battery Technical Lead and Zero-Emission Infrastructure Specialist at Cenex, specialising in battery safety, zero-emission vehicles and charging infrastructure. His work spans battery health, heavy-duty vehicle electrification and post-incident battery safety. He has supported the ZEPA2 Zero Emission Pumping Appliance project, investigating the operational, energy and charging requirements of electric fire appliances, and has undertaken research with National Highways and Costain into thermal runaway, re-ignition and emergency response for electric HGV battery fires.

Liam will cover ZEPA2 research as well as

• Why large eHGV battery fires change the response challenge. Heavy-duty battery packs are already typically around 540 to 624 kWh and are approaching 1 MWh, with vehicle mass, cargo, pack location and roadside infrastructure all influencing fire consequences.
• Thermal runaway does not end when the flames disappear: re-ignition, off-gassing, prolonged cooling, thermal monitoring, isolation and recovery can extend an incident well beyond extinguishment and significantly affect road reopening.
• What an electrified future means for fire and rescue: bringing the two sides together, ensuring electric pumping appliances have enough energy and resilience to respond, while giving crews better sensing, battery information and operational tools for increasingly large EV incidents.