Carrefour has barred electric vehicles from a multi-story roof parking facility at its Tienen location in Belgium. The supermarket chain cited structural weight concerns and the technical challenges of fighting battery fires at elevated heights, according to local news reports.
Legacy Load Capacities Tested by Modern Fleets
According to reports from regional media including VRT and HBVL, the company stated that these elevated structures simply were not engineered to support the heavier footprint of modern battery-powered fleets.
The Hidden Mass of Lithium-Ion Batteries
According to coverage by HLN, infrastructure planners acknowledged that the weight differential could not be foreseen
when many retail parking decks were originally constructed decades ago.
Commercial Real Estate Bottlenecks
Operational Hazards on Upper Decks
Beyond static load limits, Carrefour pointed to the specific operational hazards associated with suppressing thermal runaway events in elevated locations.
According to reports compiled by De Morgen, the company highlighted that electric cars are too heavy and difficult to extinguish
when parked on upper decks where emergency vehicle access, water pressure, and maneuverability are severely constrained.