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

[FluxCap]

In some previous Tesla car fires (poor driving, crashes, ruptured battery), the cause was obvious, there was no need to explain anything.

Fires that happen to a car whilst charging are likely to cause fear if root cause is not explained.

There are increasing incidents of hoverboards causing fire whilst charging.

Hoverboard plugged in for 10min causes fire that destroyed family home

Incidents like this may lead to a perception 'charging = fire danger', unless car charging fire is explained.

I agree, need to get to the bottom of this one, at least get initial findings/comments that rule things out expeditiously. Incidentally, I wonder if he had a cheapo Chinese "hoverboard" in his trunk that ignited.

However, I sure would like to know if there is an actual potential safety issue, as an owner and investor.

 

[smac]

Incidents like this may lead to a perception 'charging = fire danger', unless car charging fire is explained.

I have a charging point @ work and have been teased about the risk of sitting by the window nearest to it: with people "checking" if my car was on charge

It will all blow over in a day mind. Talk of the office will be whatever else is on social media at the time. Probably the risk of getting punched by Ronnie Pickering.

 

[Discoducky]

I agree, need to get to the bottom of this one, at least get initial findings/comments that rule things out expeditiously. Incidentally, I wonder if he had a cheapo Chinese "hoverboard" in his trunk that ignited.

However, I sure would like to know if there is an actual potential safety issue, as an owner and investor.

Could have been using a 12V outlet inverter to charge various things in the car.

In other news Ferrari 488 GTB Sales Stopped Due to Fire Risk | Digital Trends

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Porsche has had to recall cars across every product line over the last 4 years due to fires.

Porsche Recalls Cayenne, Panamera Vehicles for Fire Risk | Defective Products Attorney
Almost 3,000 Porsche Macans Recalled In Russia Over Fire Hazard
Porsche Recalls High-Performance 911 GT3 After Fires - Bloomberg Business

 

[AWDtsla]

A Lamborghini Aventador Catches Fire in Traffic While the Driver Continues to Rev the Engine

Lamborghini's catch fire when they are reved. Several so far.

 

[Matias]

See http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/60235-New-charging-incident-in-Norway

 

[JohnSnowNW]

See http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/60235-New-charging-incident-in-Norway

This seems unrelated...

 

[EdA]

This seems unrelated...

Unless the breaker never tripped on the SC...

 

[JohnSnowNW]

Unless the breaker never tripped on the SC...

We could speculate all day. If this is relevant, then we should start linking to every post where people noted melting or discoloration on various plugs/outlets.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I remember there was a thread where there was a supercharger socket melt reported before also in the US, but in that case charging also stopped and no fire happened.

 

[vgrinshpun]

Unless the breaker never tripped on the SC...

Except as a result of investigation by Norwegian authorities there were no specific faults with the charging equipment...

These two incidents does not look related at all.

 

[tom66]

Except as a result of investigation by Norwegian authorities there were no specific faults with the charging equipment...

These two incidents does not look related at all.

How much do we trust this investigation? The charging cable was surely melted and it would seem unlikely that a week-long investigation could come to this conclusion with certainty. They could check the cabinets and pedestal for damage, but I'm not convinced the charger can be completely ruled out just yet.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

How much do we trust this investigation? The charging cable was surely melted and it would seem unlikely that a week-long investigation could come to this conclusion with certainty. They could check the cabinets and pedestal for damage, but I'm not convinced the charger can be completely ruled out just yet.

Why wouldn't you trust this investigation? Do you have some special qualifications that would lead you to make such a statement?

 

[AudubonB]

We could speculate all day.

Oh, we will. And night, too. For days! Weeks! Months! And "...if relevant...." bears not at all....

 

[tom66]

Why wouldn't you trust this investigation? Do you have some special qualifications that would lead you to make such a statement?

I don't, but I would say it'll take more than a week to come to the conclusion that the charger was definitely not involved. They may have ruled out pedestal and cabinet, but they'd have to do a lot more to rule out the charge connector, or possibly even the cable.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I don't, but I would say it'll take more than a week to come to the conclusion that the charger was definitely not involved. They may have ruled out pedestal and cabinet, but they'd have to do a lot more to rule out the charge connector, or possibly even the cable.

I think it is probably relevant that the driver reported he unplugged and holstered the cable when he saw smoke. This may have occurred before the fuse had a chance to trip (assuming the smoking part was even related to the cable). This would be different from the reported incidents where the cable was unplugged after a fuse was tripped.

So even if a fuse was not tripped on the SC, I don't think it necessarily means the SC is faulty in this case, given the cable was not connect when the car was in flames.

 

[Mario Kadastik]

Couple of tidbits that might be useful.

We had one cars center screen just die during driving, my customer called me and I called Tesla. They started to check and saw that the car had stopped communicating at the time of the console dying. That tells to me that the car is talking to tesla pretty much nona-stop, what though is hard to guess.


we were debugging a CHAdeMO charging issue with Tesla today and my car was in developer mode, got to see some pretty interesting stuff, most of which I can't say much about but, the charge port and adapter and all the cables and junctions had temperature reports in the console screen. So those temperatures are monitored and logged and possibly could have been beamed out during the incident.

Just my $0.02

 

[mbender]

First (possible) supercharging-related fire in say... 1 million supercharges (100,000 cars? 10 per car on average?). I am not too worried. But of course it will be blown out of proportions again. As if there are not thousands of car fires every day!

While writing this post at least one gasoline powered car burned to the ground.

Not spontaneously and/or as a direct, result of adding fuel to it. This is pretty serious, and I'm actually surprised at how little media attention it received -- whether "in" or "out of" proportion.

I think advocates (and I count myself among them) make a mistake to minimize or 'poo-poo' this. I look forward to hearing an explanation from EM or a Tesla spokesperson, but I'm not holding my breath.

Disclaimer: late to this thread and have only read 5 pages.

 

[3mp_kwh]

Not spontaneously and/or as a direct, result of adding fuel to it.

Yes, gas fires are spontaneous, sometimes while fuel is added. One thing that isn't "minimizing" is slow developing battery fires. A couple pages ago, Porsche's issues with the 2015 GT3s were mentioned. About a half-dozen were on fire, when their drivers stopped. Fire, while they were in the car!

Shoot, the Volt fire required impregnating the battery with iron, sprinkling anti-freeze on it and NHTSA storage, upside down, for two weeks. Only then did it cook. ....and that incident got some attention!

 

[smac]

Why wouldn't you trust this investigation? Do you have some special qualifications that would lead you to make such a statement?

Not wanting to defend Tom here on qualification or intent, but I too read the situation as "We haven't found a specific cause, and have let Tesla take the equipment from the scene for further investigation".

The joys of: Google translation + TMC Speculation = Misunderstanding