Risks when charging during a lightning storm?

[SimS]

We live in Georgia so we have frequent thunderstorms during late spring and all summer.
As I was connecting my MME up for a charge yesterday, I wondered if I need to keep an eye on the weather forecast during the charge session.
We have had computers, routers and TVs killed over the years due to lightning.
I read on the web of an instance where a Tesla was thrown for a loop by a lightning strike during a charge session.
Can anyone hazard a guess or is there any documentation regarding lightning or grounding issues during MME charging? TIA
SimS

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[Timelessblur]

chances are the same damage to things like tesla are going to happen to a car like the mach E.
If lightly hits the wrong spot directly it will cause some major damage now the odds of it happening are fairly low.
Take for example a surge protector you buy that all have the XYZ protection if your stuff gets fried from a lightly strike. Here is the truth. They do nothing to protect your stuff from a lightly strike. They know how rare it is so it is cheap advertisement and they just pay it out.
if you want real protection you need to install a whole house surge protector which those can handle a single lighting strike. Mind you the unit is fried but your hose is safe.

 

[louibluey]

A whole home surge protector may protect against a nearby strike. Nothing protects against a direct strike. The amount of energy in a direct strike to an individual home electrical system can be very high.

My practice is to unplug the EV (PHEV) when lightning is near. Better safe than sorry. Not always possible or practical, but if I think of it when an active thunderstorm is near, I unplug.

 

[DBC]

Lightening strikes are a good reason why a better quality EVSE is a better idea than a lower quality EVSE -- better surge protection. Best case is the EVSE gets fried, not the charger in the vehicle. However, while a high quality EVSE will offer good protection it can't be perfect, so avoiding charging in the late afternoon is a good idea. Shouldn't be too hard to do either.

Note the EVSE turns off the power to the vehicle when it's charging, which makes avoiding charging during the lightening strikes the key.

 

[louibluey]

Lightening strikes are a good reason why a better quality EVSE is a better idea than a lower quality EVSE -- better surge protection. Best case is the EVSE gets fried, not the charger in the vehicle. However, while a high quality EVSE will offer good protection it can't be perfect, so avoiding charging in the late afternoon is a good idea. Shouldn't be too hard to do either.

Note the EVSE turns off the power to the vehicle when it's [not?] charging, which makes avoiding charging during the lightening strikes the key.

That's a good point, the open relay in the EVSE when not charging. But, nothing much beats the 6'+ air gap when the J1772 plug is on the wall. And, if lightning hits the garage and jumps to ground through MME, all bets are off anyway.

BTW, I have been wondering about lightning paths for a direct lightning strike to MME with the non-conducting (?) body parts (e.g. our roof, frunk lid, and back door made out of the weird grey material seen in accident photos). I guess fiberglass bodies have been around for many years, so probably a non-issue. Still, for a direct strike to a car that I was inside of, I would rather be in all metal car body, with the only arc in air across the tires to ground!

 

[Larry]

I’m off the beaten path with lousy electric service. Not so much outages as wild voltage swings. I have several UPS for various electronics but nothing that could handle my ChargePoint. I found a hugely expensive whole house UPS with AVR but none of the electrical contractors I’ve contacted about installation even return my calls.

What would a 20% voltage swing do to my charger and my MME?

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

if it strikes just right, you could get a free superfast charge! (*)

(*) this is not true and do not try this at home

 

[JamieGeek]

if it strikes just right, you could get a free superfast charge! (*)

(*) this is not true and do not try this at home

But what if you're going 88 mph? Oh wait wrong make/model and no stainless steel (and no Flux capacitor).

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

But what if you're going 88 mph? Oh wait wrong make/model and no stainless steel (and no Flux capacitor).

yet. waiting on it to get back in stock.
Flux Capacitor - Great Scott! | O'Reilly Auto Parts (oreillyauto.com)

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

yet. waiting on it to get back in stock.
Flux Capacitor - Great Scott! | O'Reilly Auto Parts (oreillyauto.com)

im still waiting on my Mr. Fusion.

 

[Marcel]

im still waiting on my Mr. Fusion.

What is your ETA?

 

[ChasingCoral]

Good question. It's likely there won't be much damage if any. However, direct hits could cause some issues. I could only find record of one such event. There's not much out there to go on yet:
https://jalopnik.com/heres-what-happens-when-lightning-strikes-a-charging-te-1708184871
https://www.raycap.com/wp-content/uploads/EV-Charger-Global-Application-paper_EN.pdf
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7791473
http://indecs.eu/2019/indecs2019-pp497-502.pdf
https://pes-spdc.org/sites/default/files/protection_of_vehicle_dc_fast_charging_r11.pdf

The punchline is the odds of having an issue are very low if there is a lightning strike to your home with the odds of a lightning strike to your home already being low.
Basic math: low chance of an issue x low chance of an event = really low chance of being a problem.

If you are that worried about protecting your Mach E don't ever plug it in and don't ever drive it.

 

[SimS]

"If you are that worried about protecting your Mach E don't ever plug it in and don't ever drive it"

Helpful.....

SimS

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

"If you are that worried about protecting your Mach E don't ever plug it in and don't ever drive it"

Helpful.....

SimS

It's also true.

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