Electric car fire: Week-old million baht vehicle ignites in Udon Thani mall

[JBChiangRai]

2 minutes ago, kennw said:

So then you would have a Level 2 charging facility, slower but much safer. But maybe the superior driving experience you mention means you stop more often for coffee or just do less stressful short trips

I save about 5 hours per year not hanging around having gas pumped.  I have only used fast DC charging once, to test it, I didn't want to find the DC charging didn't work on my car outside of warranty.

 

I would have to stop for coffee 2 or 3 times if I drove to BKK, but I never will, I prefer to fly.

 

My long distance trips are typically Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai and I can do the return journey without charging if I wanted.

 

Kamphaeng Phet is probably the furthest South I would and have driven, I would need to stop for 20-30 minutes to charge up, but I would want to stop, have a coffee and stretch my legs.

 

I would stay at a hotel with free charging, my 1,100km journey to KP & back would cost me about 300 baht.

[transam]

12 hours ago, owl sees all said:

I also had a problem like that on the M4. I was travelling from London to Port Talbot (heading west).

 

Mine was in a Ford Zephyr 6. 

I had one of those, 1959 Low-line............????

[JBChiangRai]

7 minutes ago, kennw said:

So solar panels, battery storage, $$$ but cheaper running cost?

Yes, cheaper house running cost and cheaper EV running cost, ROI is 5.3 years on my system and the big benefit is I can keep the house cool, even AC units in the corridors.  We don't think twice about central heating in the UK, I apply the same principles to my house but cooling.

[JBChiangRai]

8 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

This vehicle was simply parked up and charging. If that can lead to it catching fire without any other source, then that is an issue, to be fair, yes?

Yes we can only speculate, but it looks the fire occurred under the bonnet, most likely from the 12v system.  I suspect we will never find out.

[JBChiangRai]

25 minutes ago, kennw said:

It depend on how "smart" the charging station/car is. Level 3 stations should always be outside. They have the potential for DC rapid charge. (eg Tessler). Some cars though cannot accept high charging rates. The car fire in question, red plate, seems maybe the new owner did not read the manual (maybe it was in Chinese) 555   

Level 3 CS obey instructions from the car and set their charging current appropriately.

 

The only intelligence in Level 3 CS is managing their load up to the limit requested by the car and taking into account things like cable & internal electronics temperature.

 

Level 2 CS tell the car the maximum current they want the car to draw and the car sets it's internal charger to that requested by the CS.

 

Level 2 & 3 CS communicate two-way with the car.  There are safeguards in both the car & CS to shutdown if either end is unhappy.

[kennw]

18 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Initial thoughts are the fire started around the 12v battery area and the lfp battery was not affected but need to wait for a proper investigation before coming to any conclusion.

 

Interestingly, it was reported , and seen on the video, that a lot of time was lost trying to open the bonnet !!, the BYD Atto 3 has a strange system in that the internal bonnet release catch has to be pulled twice to enable release.

Same as BMW.. Pull twice, safety measure.

[KhunLA]

20 minutes ago, kennw said:

So solar panels, battery storage, $$$ but cheaper running cost?

Depends, a small or large investment (relative), small IMHO, with very quick ROI, depending on individual needs & use.

 

Living comfort level of a nice cool house, 24/7 ... priceless.  And at no cost once ROI realized.  For us, 5-7 yrs should be ballpark, less if used more.

[kennw]

14 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I save about 5 hours per year not hanging around having gas pumped.  I have only used fast DC charging once, to test it, I didn't want to find the DC charging didn't work on my car outside of warranty.

 

I would have to stop for coffee 2 or 3 times if I drove to BKK, but I never will, I prefer to fly.

 

My long distance trips are typically Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai and I can do the return journey without charging if I wanted.

 

Kamphaeng Phet is probably the furthest South I would and have driven, I would need to stop for 20-30 minutes to charge up, but I would want to stop, have a coffee and stretch my legs.

 

I would stay at a hotel with free charging, my 1,100km journey to KP & back would cost me about 300 baht.

I think B300 a bit light, normal battery power use is 0.2kWh/km (Tessler) so do the calcs based on your power cost B/kWh. And no, I am not anti EV's but against the adds that claim "green" credentials for Thailand when only 16% of power here is from renewable sources. Those who charge from own solar are good but in the minority.  

[JBChiangRai]

3 minutes ago, kennw said:

I think B300 a bit light, normal battery power use is 0.2kWh/km (Tessler) so do the calcs based on your power cost B/kWh. And no, I am not anti EV's but against the adds that claim "green" credentials for Thailand when only 16% of power here is from renewable sources. Those who charge from own solar are good but in the minority.  

For that KP journey...

I charge to 100% at home (cost free from solar)

I put 150 baht in at a fast DC Charger on the way to KP

I charge up overnight at a hotel with free charging

I put 150 baht in at a fast DC Charger on the way home

I charge up at home for free

 

Total 300 baht.

[kennw]

6 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Depends, a small or large investment (relative), small IMHO, with very quick ROI, depending on individual needs & use.

 

Living comfort level of a nice cool house, 24/7 ... priceless.  And at no cost once ROI realized.  For us, 5-7 yrs should be ballpark, less if used more.

I love the MG badge you post, just pi...ed off that the Chinese put it on their cars mine was on a MG "B" 

[JBChiangRai]

1 minute ago, kennw said:

I love the MG badge you post, just pi...ed off that the Chinese put it on their cars mine was on a MG "B" 

On the plus side, at least Chinese MG's will now get you to your destination, even in the wet.

[kennw]

2 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

For that KP journey...

I charge to 100% at home (cost free from solar)

I put 150 baht in at a fast DC Charger on the way to KP

I charge up overnight at a hotel with free charging

I put 150 baht in at a fast DC Charger on the way home

I charge up at home for free

 

Total 300 baht.

Yes you are in the minority, but for those who are not just do the calcs at 0.2kWh/km. You will find it is cheaper than for ICE. Diesel at 32B/l & 16km/l = 2B/km Petrol about 3.9 B/km

[kennw]

3 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

On the plus side, at least Chinese MG's will now get you to your destination, even in the wet.

Yes you are dead right but what great fun it was. 

[Eloquent pilgrim]

 

BYD (build your dreams) … ha ha ha; what does anyone expect from Chinese garbage; nearly as badly built as MG’s

[patman30]

46 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I don't have stats for how many fires resulted in the vehicle being written off

1. 1 Wiring Faults, this is one of the "leading causes of car fires" that was the title of the article so clearly people DID NOT discover them.
2. 2 Igniting dry leaves is the car catching fire if it spreads to the car (no hot exhaust on an EV)
3. 3 Most cars do not have after run cooling for the engine oil quoted in the article, most oil pumps are mechanically driven from the crankshaft, if there is any cooling it's from the electric radiator fan, which one can postulate would fan the flames.
4. 4 I agree relevant, but still a leading cause of parked car fires.

already adressed these bogys issues
and that source....... LOL

[patman30]

46 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

My system is grid-tied but I run as close to nett zero metering as I can, usually my bill is 60-80 baht and on average bill without solar would be circa 8,300 baht for me.

you mean you spin your meter backwards, dangerously exporting to the grid without permission/license
but then night time you revert back to depending on that dirty fossil fuel grid power?
8k baht so you got what 15KW PV, but no storage?

[KhunLA]

22 minutes ago, kennw said:

I love the MG badge you post, just pi...ed off that the Chinese put it on their cars mine was on a MG "B" 

You have my condolences for owning the MGB.

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

I save about 5 hours per year not hanging around having gas pumped. 

 

My long distance trips are typically Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai and I can do the return journey without charging if I wanted.

5-10 Hours sounds about right, when I owned a ICEV, maybe 10 minutes, every week or every other week.  Putting on 20-25k kms a year.

 

Our weekly, monthly O&A don't require use of CS.  Local rides up to Hua Hin or about, and usually 250 kms R/T.   Pop down to Ban Krut quite often for green curry & roti, along with sweet tooth fix, but less than 175 kms R/T.

 

Takes care of N & S cruises, and can't go far E or W.  So all trips charged at home with excess solar also.   

 

Since we stop on longer O&As anyway, while using a CS is actually less total time wise, per year, or at worse, the same time wise, as owning an ICEV.  Much less, if just counting excess time there with the EV, IF any.

 

A welcomed stop after 3-4 hrs on Thai roads, and savings are just a plus.

[SiSePuede419]

22 hours ago, webfact said:

Chinese engineers are currently investigating the electric car fire incident

I think I see the problem. ????

[Andrew Dwyer]

Latest from BYD/RÊVER :

 

Make of it what you will:

 

 

Dear all customers (2nd edition)

Progress update on BYD ATTO 3 electric car case. Smoke occurred in the front bonnet area while charging DC at that charging station. Today BYD and Rewe engineers team have expedited inspection of all systems, equipment to fully find the cause of the incident in this case.

Preliminary findings from the BYD and REVE engineering team. After checking the exterior of the front bonnet area, damage was found around the wiring kit connected to the 12 volt battery which could have caused heat, resulting in damage to the AC ducts causing the AC fluid to leak and smoke from the A/C that was mixed with the heat in the area but no flame.

In parts of other systems, such as the Control Module, which uses the high-voltage battery, wiring kit and connectors, the high-volume battery, were not damaged. However, BYD and RAVE's engineering teams are speeding up the investigation to find more evidence in all vehicles' systems with full confidence.

Next step, BYD and REVE prepare to introduce new spare parts, change and replace damaged parts until the car can enter ON mode and activate normally so that the special tool can further analyze the car's performance in detail.

[BenStark]

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

I save about 5 hours per year not hanging around having gas pumped.

ONE real long distance trip a year will use up 5 hours of charging

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

My long distance trips are typically Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai

Well yeah, you could also say that your long distance trips are to the 7/11 around the corner, but limiting yourself to make a point is quite lame.

 

48 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I charge to 100% at home (cost free from solar)

You got free solar installed? Please provide a link to the company, everyone would like to have 100's of thousands baht in solar installation for free.

 

49 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I put 150 baht in at a fast DC Charger on the way to KP

I charge up overnight at a hotel with free charging

I put 150 baht in at a fast DC Charger on the way home

So the fast charger is faster than filling up the tank of an ICE.

 

There are no hotels with FREE charging, it is included in the price of the room.

 

So, and on the way home another time waste of charging

[JBChiangRai]

50 minutes ago, Eloquent pilgrim said:

 

BYD (build your dreams) … ha ha ha; what does anyone expect from Chinese garbage; nearly as badly built as MG’s

That's not very eloquent, also fiction.

[Ben Zioner]

2 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

I don't have the stats, but it's actually quite common, here's an article Causes of a parked car fire (leamastech.com)

 

Common causes of parked car fire

1. Wiring fault

Electrical cables that are exposed can have contact with each other, create a short circuit (bridge) and cause fire. This is more likely when cables of opposite charge (+ve and -ve) bridge together. They heat up immediately and begin to burn.

 

2. Hot exhaust

An exhaust that is very hot and close to the ground can ignite dry leafs or papers. The probability of exhaust causing fire is higher when the catalytic converter is blocked. A blocked catalytic converter can glow red hot and have very high temperature that can easily ignite papers and leafs.

 

3. Engine oil leakage

Engine oil on a very hot engine is a recipe for fire disaster especially if the oil is diluted with fuel. When a car is parked after being driven, it does not get the continuous cooling from the cooling system and after a while, the engine becomes very hot. This is why some vehicles have after-run cooling function such that after the engine has been turned off, the cooling fan still runs and the coolant still circulate for few minutes.

 

4. Sabotage

This is when someone deliberately sets fire on the car with the intention to punish or harm the car owner. Cases like this have been heard in the past and are still possibly happening.

Thanks, must have  been the "Hot exhaust".

[JBChiangRai]

42 minutes ago, patman30 said:

you mean you spin your meter backwards, dangerously exporting to the grid without permission/license
but then night time you revert back to depending on that dirty fossil fuel grid power?
8k baht so you got what 15KW PV, but no storage?

22Kw PV, 18Kw G-T Inverter, 16.5Kw whole house UPS, 28.8 KwHrs of LiFePo4 batteries.

[JBChiangRai]

55 minutes ago, patman30 said:

already adressed these bogys issues
and that source....... LOL

Indeed you did and I recorrected your corrections.

[patman30]

2 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

22Kw PV, 18Kw G-T Inverter, 16.5Kw whole house UPS, 28.8 KwHrs of LiFePo4 batteries.

why not increase storage and be completely off grid?
why continue to depend on the grid?

[JBChiangRai]

12 minutes ago, BenStark said:

ONE real long distance trip a year will use up 5 hours of charging

Well yeah, you could also say that your long distance trips are to the 7/11 around the corner, but limiting yourself to make a point is quite lame.

 

You got free solar installed? Please provide a link to the company, everyone would like to have 100's of thousands baht in solar installation for free.

 

So the fast charger is faster than filling up the tank of an ICE.

 

There are no hotels with FREE charging, it is included in the price of the room.

 

So, and on the way home another time waste of charging

My word! I must have really rattled your cage.  Is that the best you can do?  Your personality shines though your post.

 

I love you too Ben.

 

 

[ozimoron]

20 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Lots of fake EV propaganda is getting pushed on naive souls, but so far no solid data on EV vs. ICE fires.

In the above, you omit that it is per 100,000 SALES. Since EV sales are just taking off, that skew the balance about a factor of 20 in favor of EV cars.

Statistics not your long suit?

[JBChiangRai]

3 minutes ago, patman30 said:

why not increase storage and be completely off grid?
why continue to depend on the grid?

Actually, I did design the system to be a hybrid system running on or off grid.  The hybrid inverters I bought (3 x 5.5Kw) wouldn't export surplus power to the grid properly, they did a little bit but threw away most of the power.  So I added in 3 x 6Kw G-T inverters and put all the PV on those but left the LFP batteries on the hybrid inverters and switched them into UPS mode.

 

My batteries were sourced from China by my deceased friend's Chinese ex-wife and whilst 28.8 KwHrs only cost me about 80k THB, I think they are too expensive to cycle every day.

 

In EV's mostly you are keeping them between 30% and 80%, in your mobile you are charging them up to 100% with the result my iPhone battery died in a year.  If you use your home solar batteries charging to 100% every day, you may only get 3-5 years out of them.  My batteries would probably cost 200k THB to replace, and if supplied by a Thai Co. then good luck with a warranty claim.

[ravip]

22 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Sounds like he was overcharged????

Not he, the car would have been over-charged!