Great ... a garage fire with a plug in vehicle in it
- Thread starter zarwin
- Start date
Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:
LTLFTcomposite
Well-known member
Am I the only one thinking they will sleep better with the car charging out on the driveway instead of in the garage? At least until more real-world experience is collected...
thankyouOB
Well-known member
LTLFTcomposite said:
yes. If you read the stories about this, it had nothing to do with the EV, except that it caught fire that started elsewhere in the garage.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1068564_fire-marshal-says-nc-garage-fire-started-away-from-chevy-volt-exclusive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
ignorance is bliss. tune into rush files to see him cackle with glee at this.
davewill
Well-known member
Not I. I just don't think the cars and EVSEs are the culprit. I think a car with gasoline and a hot engine is more risky...and I park one in my garage every night.LTLFTcomposite said:
LTLFTcomposite
Well-known member
davewill said:
Yes and no. You wouldn't consider refueling the gasoline car in the garage to be a safe activity. The gasoline car is pretty much passive when it's parked, while the EV charging that big-@ss battery is quite another matter.
My only thought about charging it on the driveway is mitigating the risk in case the "oh but we've done three million hours of testing" crowd overlooked something.
sarahnc
Active member
I talked with Duke Energy this morning about this. She said they were getting normal info/data from the Siemen's charger at that location at the time of the start of the fire. While they won't know for sure until the final report comes out (in 4-6 months, she's been told), the charger really looks to be in the clear. She can't give me the official all-clear, though. I don't have the car yet, so I'm good unless the EVSE decides to ignite on its own.
The Durham city-county inspector that came out to inspect my Siemen's (Duke Energy Pilot) EVSE today, gave it a lot of careful attention. He signed off on it after meticulously checking the grounding. It was his first EVSE inspection, though. He knew about the Mooresville fire, but didn't know any likely theories or details, except that it was a Volt, not a Leaf, in the garage.
From the sounds of Iredell Fire Marshall interview, all this sounds like the EV was red herring for something that really was a more traditional fire in a house that just happened to also have an EV.
Whew!
The Durham city-county inspector that came out to inspect my Siemen's (Duke Energy Pilot) EVSE today, gave it a lot of careful attention. He signed off on it after meticulously checking the grounding. It was his first EVSE inspection, though. He knew about the Mooresville fire, but didn't know any likely theories or details, except that it was a Volt, not a Leaf, in the garage.
From the sounds of Iredell Fire Marshall interview, all this sounds like the EV was red herring for something that really was a more traditional fire in a house that just happened to also have an EV.
Whew!
palmermd
Well-known member
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/11/chart-of-the-day-vehicle-fires-edition/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
LTLFTcomposite said:
You might consider a smoke detector in the garage. The new ones have a wireless link that allows battery and hardwired units to communicate together. So if you have a detector in the garage and one in your bedroom, the unit in the garage can set off the unit in the bedroom via the wireless link.
LTLFTcomposite
Well-known member
SanDust said:
The laptop thing was a serious concern, particularly since they do get taken on planes. But that happens with many people present and such a fire should be possible to extinguish, unlike the EV charging at night while people are sleeping in the house. Batteries in the cargo hold are a little scary for the same reason, you may recall the Air Florida disaster attributed to oxygen generators.
There just isn't a lot of history to refer to for weighing the risks. Hopefully time proves those who are so certain there is nothing to be worry about correct; anything less will be a setback for the EV transition. LKK's point about beefing up the alarming is a good idea.
New update on investigation. Just got a call from someone with the Duke pilot program to let me know that while the official results are not yet released, they are confident that the Siemens unit was not the cause. Current information from the investigation "unofficially" rules it out. They are telling pilot program members they feel it is safe to use the EVSE at this point.
Doesn't matter. This will always be referenced as "one of them there Volt fires, derp" by the willfully ignorant.
Doesn't matter. This will always be referenced as "one of them there Volt fires, derp" by the willfully ignorant.
TonyWilliams
Well-known member
LTLFTcomposite said:
More recently, in the past year or two, we lost UPS B747-400 and crew near Dubai, to a battery fire.
scottf200
Well-known member
Charger for Volt didn't spark Iredell garage fire, utilities say
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/01/2816618/charger-for-volt-didnt-spark-iredell.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
By Bruce Siceloff
Posted: Thursday, Dec. 01, 2011
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/01/2816618/charger-for-volt-didnt-spark-iredell.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
By Bruce Siceloff
Posted: Thursday, Dec. 01, 2011
padamson1
Well-known member
scottf200 said:
Good to see the source was not the charger (as we all expected).
Unfortunately I'm sure we'll won't see if any of these "Volt not involved in fire..." statements made on any of the anti-GM news outlets (FOX, nlpc.org, etc), the best we'll hear from their ilk is hints that there was cover-up. More importantly I doubt the major news outlets (CNN, MSNBC, etc) will find this sensational enough to even mention.
