Fire and electrical damage at Electrify America charger.

[BostonPete]

I have not yet DCFC’d but one thing I have learned is to inspect the cable and connector before plugging in. I am not saying that is what happened in this case but poor electrical connections get hot fast. Hopefully things go smoothly with your insurance company.

This is true but the car is supposed to monitor the charge port temp actively and adjust the charging if needed. Obviously that won't mean anything in the case of some kind of failure but would love to know what the car recorded during this incident.

Sponsored

 

[superdave80]

So there is no clear was it x or y as the cause…

Given the flames are coming from the charger, how could it be anything BUT the charger's fault? It should have proper, functioning safety systems in place to prevent that, regardless of what is happening on the vehicle side. Hell, if I put a piece of wire into both ends of a $10 electrical outlet, a ciruit breaker will trip. How does a $50k+ charger melt itself?

 

[scoopman]

Well after all of this, I can tell you to watch out for a damp areas at the base of the charger. The internal coolant is leaking out. I was in San Diego early in morning and thought it was condensation but later learned the chargers at this location had internal leaks.

What the literal F is a charger doing still being operational with coolant leaking out of it?

If I were designing a charger I probably would have error conditions like say having no cooling in the cable that would cut the power and take the thing offline so that flames don't shoot out of the dispenser instead of electrons.

This seems like a design flaw of the charging dispenser and a case of product liability and negligence for EA and the manufacturer of the dispenser.

I'm glad OP just has a melted car and finger pointing mess. Seems like this could have ended up even worse if, for example, he wasn't in the car at the time to catch it, or the fire spread.

 

[BigMach-E]

It’s stuff like this that really makes me wonder if EA is up to the task they have at hand. They are the de facto national platform agnostic DCFC provider, funded by what really amounts to government money (I know it’s VW money, but it’s a punishment that the government levied on VW for dieselgate). If their equipment is breaking cars, and they don’t make it right, quickly, NACS will become the standard.

 

[jamelski]

Video or this is photo shopped bs ?

no news link. trash troll. This would be all over news ??

 

[RickMachE]

However, you may get rates raised as a result of simply making a claim. My policy has a "claim free" discount of 3%. If I make a claim, I lose that discount for 3 years.

So, some years back, my wife hit a pothole and blew out the tire and destroyed the rim. ~$950. We have a $500 deductible for comprehensive. But I wanted to get the state to pay for it, as the potholes should not have been there (they have a citizens review committee). To do so, I had to make a claim.

Claimed $950. They paid $450.
Lost 3% discount for 3 years, call it $150.
State paid the deductible.

$950 cost
- $450 insurance
- $500 state
=====
$0
Paid $50 more a year for 3 years for insurance, so it cost us $150.

That's despite it being "not our fault".

We also had an earlier "collision with road" when the front end of a car had a bunch of issues. Insurance company said "yup", not your fault, give up the claim free discount and we'll pay the $2,000 bill.

Done.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

This is a comprehensive, not collision claim. OP would not be assessed any at fault premium increases. Insurance companies can't claim negligence if the act is simply to plug a cable in.

 

[AKgrampy]

This is true but the car is supposed to monitor the charge port temp actively and adjust the charging if needed. Obviously that won't mean anything in the case of some kind of failure but would love to know what the car recorded during this incident.

In this case, and once again no expert, seems more like a short circuit than overheating as he stated a fireball at the charge port one minute after he started charging. Would be interesting to see what the final cause of the incident is determined to be.

 

[21st Century Pony]

Well after all of this, I can tell you to watch out for a damp areas at the base of the charger. The internal coolant is leaking out. I was in San Diego early in morning and thought it was condensation but later learned the chargers at this location had internal leaks.

Thank you - this is useful info.

 

[ChuckA]

In my insurance my discount is for “accident free”, not “claim free”.

With claims to affect my premium, it either has to be my fault or there is a frequency of too many claims.

 

[dtbaker61]

2021 mach e GTPE. So just short of a month ago I plugged into a 150kw Electrify America charger and a minute or so later flames shoot out of the charge port. Fused and melted the charger to my car and melted all the charge side wiring harnesses. Bricked the car. 5 hour tow ride home ruined weekend getaway. Ford says they won't pay or warranty as the charger is at fault. Electrify America won't say anything. I'm having to use an insurance claim to fix the damages. Seems wrong on several levels. Any thoughts or advice from this forum participants? I have dash cam video of the incident so they can't say I did something wrong. The fire department the manufacturer and the Electrify America techs were all on scene. I was stuck there for hours as they rebuilt the chargers on that site and gave me "hints" as to what failed by quietly talking about the deferred maintenance the chargers exhibited.

Still shot of Flames...the video contains a large amount of file size.....and explicit language.

https://www.allstate.com/resources/what-is-subrogation

we will probably never know what the root cause was, but your insurance should cover asap, and subrogate.... could be charger, or port, but not YOUR fault regardless.

I hope you get repair, loss of use, and counselling for PTCD

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Still shot of Flames...the video contains a large amount of file size.....and explicit language.

I promise we will all mute the video. Ok now send!!

 

[1969Mach1Mike]

Still shot of Flames...the video contains a large amount of file size.....and explicit language.

Me: "Alex, I'll take 'Adult Language' and 'Kill it with fire' for $1000" please.

 

[generaltso]

counselling for PTCD

Post Traumatic Charger Disorder?

 

[dtbaker61]

Post Traumatic Charger Disorder?

It's a thing, right?
Probably never happen again once we all have Tesla plugs

Sponsored