Quarantine area for electric vehicles: requirements, duration and costs

What happens after the accident

After recovery, a damaged electric vehicle is not parked like a combustion-engine vehicle. Because a mechanically damaged high-voltage battery can catch fire with a delay, the vehicle is stored on a quarantine parking space with a safety distance and monitored over several days. Whoever provides this space — towing company, workshop, car dealership or recycler — ties up space and bears the risk.

How long does the quarantine last?

There is no legally defined duration. Since May 2026, the key reference has been a ruling of the Regional Court of Koblenz (Landgericht Koblenz, case no. 14 O 169/24 of 4 May 2026): the court decided that the acute fire risk of a possibly damaged lithium-ion battery has generally passed after around five days. For these five days, it considered a daily rate of EUR 76.16 gross to be reasonable; for any further standing time, it only allowed the normal rate of an ordinary parking space. In the case decided, a vehicle had stood on the quarantine area for more than a year.

What does a day of storage cost?

The following figures come from the 2022 price and structure survey of the German recovery and towing association (Verband Bergen und Abschleppen). They show how differently the storage of an electric vehicle is billed — and that storage in a separate container is a category of its own with its own rate.

Normal outdoor parking space (combustion engine)

EUR 10 to 12 net

Quarantine parking space for electric vehicles

around EUR 80 on average, range EUR 25 to 150

Storage in a separate container

around EUR 248 on average, range EUR 65 to 350

Considered reasonable by the court (first five days)

EUR 76.16 gross

For the business providing the space, this is not a cost item but an invoice item. What matters is whether it holds up with the insurer: surcharges for high-voltage quarantine are regularly reduced or disputed. A tested measure with a certificate number and an expert assessment can be justified on technical grounds; an improvised cordoned-off area cannot.

Which requirements apply?

In Germany, there are currently no legally binding requirements for the storage of damaged lithium-ion batteries; industry recommendations and water law are what count. The frequently cited VdS 3103 is a guidance sheet from the insurance industry and was designed for intact, new lithium batteries. Also relevant in practice is the German AwSV ordinance: a damaged electric vehicle contains electrolyte, coolant and oils, and any fire water must be retained and disposed of as hazardous waste. Anyone who prepares an area has to provide this containment themselves.

What the industry recommendation says about distances

For technical quarantine areas, a joint project group of the German automotive associations VDA and VDIK, with the participation of GDV, VdS Schadenverhütung, DGUV, the German Fire Brigade Association, the recovery and towing association, ZDK and ZKF, has published recommendations (as of August 2022). According to these, a damaged electric vehicle is to be parked individually outdoors, on a paved and sealed surface with a drainage connection, in order to retain leaking operating fluids and contaminated fire water. Without additional fire protection measures, a distance of at least five metres from combustible objects and other vehicles is recommended; this recommendation is derived from Section 30 of the German Model Building Code (Musterbauordnung). The net parking space requirement of a vehicle of classes M1 and N1 is given as 5.00 × 2.50 metres.

Two points from this are decisive for businesses. First, the document explicitly names alternative operating concepts for cases where there is no suitable area on the premises — including a suitable container with sufficient ventilation and pressure relief. With such alternative concepts, the distance can be adjusted while maintaining fire protection requirements. Second, the document is explicitly non-binding: in individual cases, other safety precautions can also be accepted in consultation with the property insurer. Local building regulations must be observed in every case.

Sources: Technische Quarantäneflächen für beschädigte Fahrzeuge mit Lithium-Ionen-Batterien (technical quarantine areas for damaged vehicles with lithium-ion batteries), published by VDA and VDIK, as of August 2022; 2022 price and structure survey of the Verband Bergen und Abschleppen; Regional Court of Koblenz, judgment of 4 May 2026, case no. 14 O 169/24; German Ordinance on Facilities for Handling Substances Hazardous to Water (AwSV). This page as of October 2026. This page provides general information and does not constitute legal advice; the assessment in an individual case is the responsibility of the competent authority and the property insurer.