News about Tesla that caught fire while charging in PA

[android04]

I truly appreciate the civil discourse on this thread. Some great thoughts and insights for sure.

That said, I really would like us to not trivialize these concerns especially because the way a battery fire burns, it has the potential to take a lot down with it very fast. Cars burned per miles traveled is all good and dandy but an ICE car would not sit attached to a 240V outlet overnight and hence the potential for this happening in that scenario would be nil or very very low. A lot of us park our Teslas in our garages and mine is underneath our master bedroom so my main concern was if there is something that we should be watching out for. It was interesting and caught my eye because in the past it's usually been the model S that was involved in such incidents. And I think I had read it was mainly in the older models and fixed in later ones. Was surprised to see that this was a Model 3.

It also looks like proper/professional installation and use of recommended wiring is key. The sometimes relatively prohibitive cost to do so might cause a few folks to youtube it and who knows if that was the culprit? And as someone mentioned, using a wall mounted charger hardwired vs the mobile one seems to be a better option? I personally did not go that route because I planned to always charge overnight at home and have not unplugged my mobile charger since the day I got it.

Brings me to my point: wondering if the car has a way to monitor heat at charge point and to cut off/stop charging if it senses anything awry?

Both the car and the mobile charge connector/wall connector monitor temperatures at multiple points. There are temp sensors in the charge port, in the body of the mobile charge connector/wall connector, and in the electrical outlet adapter of the mobile charge connector (this one monitors the temperature at the plug end). The car and charge connectors will respond to elevated temperatures by reducing current draw or stopping charging. That leaves issues with wiring and connections between the back of the outlet and the breaker panel.

Have an electrician check all the electrical stuff to make sure it's fine. You can also install a smoke detector that is networked with your home smoke detectors so they all go off in case of smoke or fire, but I believe a smoke detector isn't recommended if you put ICE cars in the garage. The smoke from the exhaust might damage them. Other than that, I'd say you might be a little paranoid in trying to prepare for a very rare situation.

 

[MikeyC]

One count we don't agree on: Chevrolet Bolt has made tons and tons of news. Tons.

I actually do agree with you there. The Bolt got tons of press. I meant to expand my "except the Bolt" comment to include that fact but rewrote part of my post and it didn't get in.

I truly appreciate the civil discourse on this thread. Some great thoughts and insights for sure.

That said, I really would like us to not trivialize these concerns especially because the way a battery fire burns, it has the potential to take a lot down with it very fast.

I think the thing that trivializes it to some degree has nothing to do with the type of fuel used or EV vs ICE. Instead, it is made trivial by the fact that so far, we have 1 in a million and that's IF this turns out to be a spontaneous fire caused by a defect.

All cars have a large energy store on board. You could argue that a gas tank igniting can move (literally) even faster than a battery fire. Ask my neighbor about 5 houses west of me. She had gotten home in her ICE vehicle, hopped in the shower, and a few minutes later, neighbors were banging on the door yelling "your house is on fire!" It's been at least 2 years and that house sits there just as it was when the fire happened. They were forced to move out and sell at a very low price.

Mike

 

[thesmokingman]

 

[DanDi58]

One big difference between EV’s and ICE vehicles IS the ability to ‘fuel up’ at home. I see way too many people - mainly on the various Tesla FB groups - asking for advice on whether they have the right breakers, wire gauge, etc, trying to install an outlet at home. They don’t want to pay an electrician to do it, which is really dumb. This idiocy could certainly result in fires like this.

 

[Dracaris]

One big difference between EV’s and ICE vehicles IS the ability to ‘fuel up’ at home. I see way too many people - mainly on the various Tesla FB groups - asking for advice on whether they have the right breakers, wire gauge, etc, trying to install an outlet at home. They don’t want to pay an electrician to do it, which is really dumb. This idiocy could certainly result in fires like this.

I agree with this at least 110%. When we all charge at home we have the potential to move a lot of energy around in a hurry - far more than the usual amount if we go with anything more than a basic 15-amp outlet. If someone puts in a 50-amp NEMA 14-50 socket or a wall-mount charger without the help of a professional electrician who can also evaluate their breaker box, existing wiring, properly torqued connectors, etc. to ensure it will be safe when they're done, that someone is quite literally asking for trouble. Same applies to a 30-amp outlet, because if that's done wrong, one can wind up with the wrong voltage at the outlet depending whether it's just a 120V 30-amp outlet or a 240V 30-amp outlet like the ones installed for an electric dryer. There are a lot of high-powered and potentially heat-generating variables here, and if one doesn't have a good handle on what's needed, one could easily burn one's house down overnight as the car sucks down between 32 and 40+ amps from a home electrical system which is simply not built for it.