Nissan Leaf Caught on Fire at Nissan HQ

[knightmb]

I don't often read stories about a Nissan Leaf catching fire (because Tesla seems to dominate those headlines), but sure enough, an employee was able to make one catch on fire at the QC station.
https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/electric-vehicle-fire-in-franklin-requires-thousands-of-gallons-of-water/
When I get more info, I'll post it here. But I know exactly which vehicle that is. The Blue Leaf is what security uses to drive around the Nissan HQ all the time. It's a 2018 SV Model I believe, I'll double check that too.

 

[LeftieBiker]

My wild guess is that they've been QC-ing it with a Hot battery for years.

 

[cwerdna]

Wow. Crazy. It's rare to hear of any Leaf fires but to have it happen at Nissan NNA HQ has got to be embarrassing.

 

[fester]

Yeah, I'd have to go with quick charging an already hot battery. Lots of examples in other things like a kids "stand up two wheeler" being ridden on a hot day, kid goes back puts it right back on the charger cause' they gotta get back out there... That and really poor engineering, minimum or no battery cooling, etc. Bad things are going to happen.

 

[knightmb]

I visited yesterday just to see how the site looked. First noticed, the smell, it did smell like a Lithium fire. Second, there was burnt Lithium dust (after reaction, not the literal stuff) all over the ground around where the water was flowing. The third thing I noticed, the QC was not damaged. I know all those stations were turned off for the fire and were still off when I took the picture, but other than the news report and some visual signs, you would never know a vehicle fire happened here.

Now some investigating. In the picture provided by the Franklin Fire Department, you can see that the engine hood was up. The QC looks to still be connected while the Fire Department was at work. I also e-mailed them some questions and will await some answers from the department to get further information. Whatever happened to that Leaf, it was not on the outside parking lot anywhere. I wondered if Nissan HQ would have kept it around some engineers or whatnot could look at it, but it's possible it's sitting in a wrecker yard somewhere. Maybe even hidden inside? Will try to locate it.

I made a copy of the image, since news stories fall away so fast and data is lost.
Provided by Franklin Fire Department (I got my own copy)

 

[GerryAZ]

Since the LEAF's LBC (lithium battery controller, also called BMS for battery management system) throttles charging current when the battery is warm (hot), something must have happened to either the charger (possibly failed to reduce current output) or the car's systems to allow the battery to overheat. I hope we learn more about this incident.

The LEAF's controller will stop charging if it detects any issues. That is why we rarely hear of LEAF battery fires in spite of the number of cars manufactured over the last 13 years still on the road.

 

[knightmb]

The Fire Marshal Andy King responded to my questions, so this can help with getting more information about what happened.

Thank you for your email regarding the EV fire in Franklin this week. I will attempt to answer your questions below. Our final report is not complete and subject to change.

Do you know what year and model the EV that caught on fire was?
We have the VIN number but have not officially confirmed the year.

Did the fire start with the battery pack under the EV or did it start with the 12V battery in the front? I ask because the picture shows the front hood open on the EV when the fire fighters were busy spraying the battery pack underneath in the picture provided by the department.
We do not know the cause of the fire.

Did the firefighters have time to (safely) use the safety disconnect for the battery pack to aid them?
No, the high voltage pack was not disconnected. The 12v battery was disconnected later in the incident.

How often is the Franklin Fire Department putting out EV fires? The news reports make it seem like so many are happening that the Franklin Fire Department is being overwhelmed by the volume?
This was our first EV fire that appeared to be in thermal runaway.

Does the Franklin PD have any fireproof EV tarps to smother the EV fire when water is not available?
We do not have any tarps to deploy but are exploring this possibility.

 

[cwerdna]

The above Leaf and # of gallons needed to extinguish was brought up at It Took 36,000 Gallons Of Water To Extinguish A Burning Tesla recently.