Wickens Engineering launches Batt-Rack: Controlled Battery Storage

Wickens Engineering have launched Batt-Rack. A storage system engineered to combine capacity and fire control in a single enclosure, giving Authorised Treatment Facilities, dismantlers and metals recyclers a safer way to hold lithium-ion battery packs.

Most EV battery storage today relies on modified shipping containers or general yard space, offering little protection if a cell enters thermal runaway. In July, a large recycling fire in Preston put that risk in the spotlight, and Material Focus now reports over 1,200 battery-related fires in the UK waste system each year. General-purpose storage was never built to handle what a failing lithium-ion cell can do.

Wickens engineered Batt-Rack to answer that directly. With a load capacity of up to 2,000kg per level, Batt-Rack scales from compact dealerships to multi-level industrial installations and can be configured to suit most sizes, including drones and other battery-powered equipment. Fire control is built into the structure, not added afterwards: an optional integrated sprinkler head on every level, fed from mains or tank, delivers continuous cooling to slow cell-to-cell propagation. An industrial roller shutter, with a fire-rated option, controls access, while a canopy roof with an air gap keeps the enclosure thermally stable, making genuine faults easier to spot. Optional extras extend that protection further: pressure regulating and fusible fire dampers, fire-resistant cladding and thermal and gas detection at every level to catch a failing cell early.

Wickens has not bolted fire safety onto a rack. The sprinklers, the enclosure and the detection were all engineered around how a lithium-ion cell actually fails, so the protection is built in from day one, not added after something’s gone wrong.