In late July, the Carrefour in Kraainem, Belgium, banned EVs from its rooftop parking lots due to weight concerns, i.e., could exceed the load-bearing capacity, and fire hazards.

“The measure is not being implemented at every Carrefour store with a rooftop parking lot but is being evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” the company said at the time.

18 stores across Belgium

But from now on, Carrefour is barring EV drivers from parking on rooftops at 18 stores across Belgium, 7 of which are in Flanders. The weight and fire hazard are the main reasons.

Although a general rule based on drive type is also a crude and surreal ban, there are quite a few gasoline- and diesel-powered SUVs that weigh more than an EV. Only in Belgium, so…

According to Carrefour spokesperson Mich Vergauwen, EVs weigh on average 250 to 500 kg more than a comparable fossil-fuel-powered car due to their heavy batteries.

“The often somewhat outdated store locations with rooftop parking lots aren’t designed to handle that extra weight,” Vergauwen told VRT NWS. “Those parking lots were built decades ago with specific weight limits. If many EVs are parked there at the same time, that maximum load capacity could be exceeded.”

The ban doesn’t exist at Carrefour France or Spain, just as it doesn’t at other Belgian retail chains. It is also rather absurd and bluntly worded because it applies only to EVs.

No ban on heavier SUVs

A heavy SUV, such as a BMW X3 20 xDrive, Volvo XC60, Mercedes GLC, or Audi Q5, or even a minivan with a full tank of gas and passengers, can weigh as much as, or more than, a compact EV or a Tesla Model 3 RWD (1,760 kg).

If you follow Carrefour’s reasoning, having many such vehicles parked on the rooftop parking lot at the same time would also exceed the maximum load capacity. And yet, there is no ban on such vehicles.

If the concern were purely about the load on the roof structure, a weight limit such as “no vehicles over X metric tons” would be more logical and fairer than a ban based on the type of propulsion.

By simply banning EVs, Carrefour Belgium has likely chosen the most practical and enforceable solution. Measuring the actual weight of every vehicle entering the premises would require a weighing system at the entrance, which is much more complex from both a technical and operational standpoint.

EV charging stations downstairs

Another – and perhaps the most logical – reason behind the ban is that Carrefour is also investing in EV infrastructure, with nearly 1,000 charging stations in the parking lots of its Belgian stores. These stations are always located on the ground floor. Consequently, it’s simply more convenient for EV customers to park downstairs anyway.

In that case, in addition to safety and weight considerations, could a commercial motive be at play? Carrefour has invested heavily in charging stations in its regular store parking lots.

When an EV driver parks downstairs, they may be right next to a charging station. That can increase the likelihood that they’ll charge their vehicle while shopping. A ‘temptation’ that isn’t there if they park their EV on the roof?

No greater fire risk with an EV

And just to be clear: As a fire safety measure, the buoyancy line is indeed a relevant criterion, even though it does not in itself provide any information about the exact weight of a specific vehicle.

A fire in a lithium-ion battery, a thermal runaway, must be fought in a fundamentally different way than a fire in a diesel vehicle. It is harder to extinguish, can reignite, and often requires much more water and time.

But in the case of a fire, an open roof is preferable to, for example, a basement garage. An open roof has excellent natural ventilation, and smoke and hot gases don’t accumulate under a ceiling, although, of course, it’s easiest to put out a fire in an EV in a parking lot.

However, that does not automatically mean that an EV poses a greater fire risk than a gasoline or diesel car. Several independent sources, such as the Swedish MSN, the Norwegian safety agency, the Australian EV FireSafe database, and US NHTSA data, consistently reach the same conclusion: Gasoline and diesel cars catch fire 20 to 80 times more often than EVs, depending on the dataset.