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This was a new owner, so I doubt that had anything to do with it. It was probably just a psychological choice made in the moment. Like some people prefer to sit in a corner with a view of the room.
thegruf
Active Member
[speculation] if the shed emitting the white smoke (oil smoke?) contains step down transformer(s), could it be that one of these failed and resulted in excess volts being directed atthe SC stall and car? If the car was to overdraw current then you would expect trips to trip. IT does seem the earlier shots have more white smoke from the shed than later ones which might support thoughts an intial failure here.
Well that confirms that the fire either began at the rear of the car or in the passenger compartment and NOT in the battery as the battery vents out the front of the car. Interesting that the hatch appears to be open. Could it be something as silly as the motor for the power liftgate jamming and overheating?
The original European chargers are 105kW IIRC, the next gen are 135kW but 120kW max per car. (Or ~67kW/car if shared) and the temporary stalls are usually rated 135kW depending on the supply capability.
My prediction: Early 2013 P85, second owner, Norway. The drive unit will have been replaced due to high failure rate. As part of the service the HVJB may have been serviced. During service, tech disconnected battery bolts. Later they were reconnected but inadequately. As a result, overheating occurred during supercharging. (Could equally apply to HVJB connecting to HVAC battery heater/AC chiller)
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=60398&d=1412123709
The original European chargers are 105kW IIRC, the next gen are 135kW but 120kW max per car. (Or ~67kW/car if shared) and the temporary stalls are usually rated 135kW depending on the supply capability.
My prediction: Early 2013 P85, second owner, Norway. The drive unit will have been replaced due to high failure rate. As part of the service the HVJB may have been serviced. During service, tech disconnected battery bolts. Later they were reconnected but inadequately. As a result, overheating occurred during supercharging. (Could equally apply to HVJB connecting to HVAC battery heater/AC chiller)
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=60398&d=1412123709
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You mean early 2014 S85. I also supect the HVJB somewhat.
I wonder if the previous owner never supercharged, or hadn't done it since a service where the HVJB was opened, and the first thing the new owner did was to do a road trip. This would explain why it happened two days after a new owner took posession and it would fit with the approximate location of the ignition source.
Right... 2014 for Europe (unless imported but then it wouldn't supercharge.) It could have been that the HVJB overheated at the higher charge rate, possibly due to a lower SOC. (New owner might have run the pack lower than expected.)
Tesla do sense the temperature at the charge connector for the supercharger, but I doubt they sense the temperature at internal components.
Someone mentioned in the short-term investor thread that they didn't sense the temperature in the HVJB in the first revision, but that they added it to later revisions. The car in question is probably old enough to have the first revision.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
Regarding people in the back at a fueling station, they shouldn't be left alone there unless they are capable enough to get themselves out; this includes being able to crawl to the front if needed for rear seat passengers. That goes for all cars, not just Teslas. It's not a concern (at least not in current society) if a rear door can't be opened from the inside. Pretty much all cars these days come with a button that explicitly prevents rear doors from being opened from the inside, mostly to prevent children from smashing their doors into things or opening the door while the car is moving.
And without being Xenophobic, far more likely to happen to Americans than Brits
(It is impossible to refuel here without continuously holding the trigger on the pump nozzle, maybe this is why?)
Per capita? Maybe not. There are states here that have laws preventing you from pumping your own gas. An attending employee must do it for you.
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Super_Popular
Well-Known Member
I was once on an electric train that caught fire. Dangerous things with all those megawatts flowing through the floor constantly.
This is the most helpful picture IMO.
1) Steam or smoke coming from the infrastructure cabinet appears to be a transformer smoking (failing)
2) Fire appears to be initially isolated on the charging port side of the car.
3) Color of flame might indicate temperature of the fire isn't hot enough to be the batteries burning - can someone with more knowledge of this chime in?
I don't think the smoke is coming from the transformers. I think something happened to the car that threw white smoke, just before the picture was taken. Possibly a gas strut or something went off.
Disagree. Looks like the fire is in the entire trunk/rear seat area.
Stretch2727
Engineer and Car Nut
But I would think they would sense DC voltage directly at the battery, inverter and charge port? This should detect a loose or poor connection under load in the HVJB (i.e driving, charging etc.).
Anyway, we are just guessing at a cause.
Have not seen anything in the main stream media. Surprising quiet.
I think this is prudent advice until the cause of the fire is determined. Although what happened in Norway is most likely the first time anything like this has occurred, it's not worth the risk in my opinion. All it takes is one time.
Right - but just a few volts dropped in the wrong area could be a huge amount of power dissipated, with temperature rise being inversely proportional to the area over which the power is dissipated (so a loose bolt could mean a lot of power dissipated over the small contact patch that remains.) I know Tesla measure battery voltage, for charge management, but do they measure the voltage at the charge port too?
The other possibly, because the trunk almost looks like it is open (the black bar in the fire might be part of the frame) it could be possible that an overheated motor due to jam might cause a fire. Spontaneous cause would be user accidentally opening trunk by pressing keyfob, trunk getting stuck somehow which is not detected by the controller (for unknown reasons), heated motor & fire. I imagine the motor is pretty beefy, in order to lift the heavy glass.
It has been said elsewhere that in the videos the supercharger plug appears to be stowed in its holster on the supercharger frame.
