A Model S caught fire while supercharging in Norway (link in Norwegian)

[brucet999]

Ah, you haven't learnt the old trick to wedge the car's fuel cap into the trigger mechanism to keep it open, then? Pumps here in the UK all appear to have had the standard trigger-hold mechanism disabled (I gather US pumps don't) and so the above trick gets around the disablement. The pumps auto-turn off system still works though - it detects the back pressure on a nearly full tank and cuts off the power to the pump motor.

Actually, the auto shut-off trips the nozzle mechanism, not the pump. You can easily restart it by pulling the lever, although in a full tank it will nearly instantly shut off again and remain off even if you are still gripping the lever.

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Why would he go to a temp with all the permanent chargers sitting there?

The driver borrowed the car from a 2-day owner. What would he know about supercharger capabilities?

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[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.

To fail that way, a step-down transformer would have to grow more coils of wire on its secondary (output) side. Not very likely, to say the least

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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

And HVJB = what? High voltage junction box?

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[tom66]

Yes. HVJB is the high-voltage junction box.
On 2012-2014 single-motor cars, it's located behind the rear seats between the chargers.
On 2014-onwards, there's a HVJB in the rear and one in the front, for dual motor cars.

 

[wdolson]

[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.

Could be steam from the water and snow on the ground evaporating. There may have been some water that collected in some container near the car that boiled off as the car got going.

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Looking at the latest pictures, I think it is clear the fire started in the rear of the car. It doesn't seem likely it was the battery then. Hopefully there is still enough left to find out the cause.

It is possible the fire started somewhere in the charging hardware. Though it's also possible the fire didn't start as an electrical fire at all. As many have pointed out, nobody knows right now, but we'll probably find out more in the next week.

Just thinking about the stock price stuff mentioned above. Monday will be the first day with the markets open and investors will have the news of the fire as well as the 4th quarter production report out there.

 

[AudubonB]

I am not the HongKong moderator, but respectfully ask all to abide by TMC rules and NOT TO CONTINUE this thread as there is an extremely active one with 22 pages and 219 posts at the time I write this, here: A Model S just caught fire while supercharging in Norway (link in Norwegian)

 

[bonnie]

It doesn't look like it was connected to the Supercharger or started in the battery. So many things it could have been ... a hoverboard received at Christmas, an iPhone charging in the car. Let's wait til we hear the facts.

 

[JRP3]

Let's wait til we hear the facts.

You must be new around here :wink:

 

[wdolson]

I am not the HongKong moderator, but respectfully ask all to abide by TMC rules and NOT TO CONTINUE this thread as there is an extremely active one with 22 pages and 219 posts at the time I write this, here: A Model S just caught fire while supercharging in Norway (link in Norwegian)

It appears the threads were merged. I believe three different threads were merged into this one.

 

[Auzie]

It appears the threads were merged. I believe three different threads were merged into this one.

 

[S'toon]

Why on Earth is this thread now in Hong Kong?

 

[AlMc]

View attachment 106347

Why on Earth is this thread now in Hong Kong?

because they want us to make new friends/meet new people?

 

[JRP3]

Thread merge mayhem.

 

[Auzie]

because they want us to make new friends/meet new people?

I like that idea. I was planning to visit this place

they have some cool topics going, but Honk Kong is equally cool, even cooler when Norway is thrown in the mix

 

[wdolson]

Why on Earth is this thread now in Hong Kong?

It appears the mod merged the Model S sub-forum thread into the Hong Kong thread instead of merging the Hong Kong thread into the Model S thread.

 

[smac]

Do you have a source?

Sorry it was posted on another forum and not attributed.

 

[GreenT]

Sorry, don't have time to read entire thead(s) count - greater now that my sheets! - but question ...

The video ... who took the video? Coincidence that it covers almost the entire event? Reminds me of the video of the car burn1ng on an off ramp 2 years ago?

Could it be staged?

 

[Yggdrasill]

Sorry, don't have time to read entire thead(s) count - greater now that my sheets! - but question ...

The video ... who took the video? Coincidence that it covers almost the entire event? Reminds me of the video of the car burn1ng on an off ramp 2 years ago?

Could it be staged?

The video was a reader video sent in to the online newspaper VG. Edit: I went back and watched the video, the person who shot the video was Hanna Otto Treldal. Some online stalking tells me this is a teacher that lives about an hour away from where the fire was by car.

It's probably not staged. The fire was right next to a hotel and a busy intersection. I would be surprised if this is the only video out there.

 

[Rane]

Just some thinking, maybe it has been discussed before but I couldn't find it.

One picture show what appears to be the trunk open and a video seems to show the charging cables still hanging "holstered".

Could it have been that the driver (not the owner) backed the car up to the charger, opened the trunk to get something and accidentally set of something, a cigarette or perhaps just noticed that something was wrong. Panicked (the car was not his/hers and fairly expensive), ran of and acted as if the fire started after he/she left the car charging. Called the emergency services and told the story to direct the blame on something else? Once he/she told that version it might have felt hard to back away from it and change the story.

It must not be a deliberate insurance/"get a new car out of goodwill"-scam. It could just have been an accident and panic...

 

[Earlian]

.

The video ... who took the video? Coincidence that it covers almost the entire event?

You have a video that's filming over an hour? I only know videos with half minute, but not more.

Please share the link to this video with almost the whole entire event.
Thx

 

[bonnie]

You must be new around here :wink:

I have no idea what I was thinking.

 

[Yggdrasill]

I have no idea what I was thinking.

You probably weren't thinking. :tongue:

MORE SPECULATION! FASTER!

How do we even know it was a Model S that burned? Maybe it was a close facsimile made out of papier-mache? And are we certain the fire was on Earth? The pixels tells me the video was made entirely in Photoshop. And is that Jeremy Clarkson I see in the background?