Converted Plug-In Prius destroyed by fire!
The first known instance of a plug-in hybrid car going up in flames occurred on June 7 in Columbia, South Carolina to a 2008 Prius that had been converted to plug-in capability for the Central Electric Power Cooperative. The conversion was performed with a Hybrids-Plus PHEV15 conversion kit that uses an A123 Systems lithium ion battery pack. The incident is still under investigation by Phoenix, Arizona-based Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation. Initial information indicates the fire may have been triggered by something related to the on-board battery charger and the car had previously experienced some mechanical issues related to that.
Unfortunately, the car didn't have a data logging system installed which might have helped to isolate the cause. No one was injured and the battery pack sustained some damage but was apparently intact and functional - implying that it was not the cause of the fire. What this points out is that before plug-in hybrids and EVs are brought to market a lot of engineering and validation testing needs to be done to ensure that all systems in the car are safe, durable and properly integrated. This is actually the part of vehicle development that often takes the most time. It's not just the batteries that have to work, but all the bits and pieces around it. That's why it's taking almost four years from concept to production for the Volt and why Toyota is in no rush to bring the PHEV Prius to market.
[Source: Cooperative Research Network, thanks to the un-named reader for the tip!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 10:04AM (6/18/2008)
Yep, cars that are NOT plug-in hybrids NEVER catch fire.
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zivbnd 10:07AM (6/18/2008)
Toyota's CEO, Watanabe, thought that the Volt was using a dangerous battery in the LiIon. Now it turns out Toyota's chargers can set the Prius on fire like a laptop...
This is rich...
I really want to see the Volt on the road, home grown electricity vs. imported oil, that is a no-brainer.
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jmspearman 10:43AM (6/18/2008)
Great, something else for the rush limbaugh types to latch onto now that the "battery-powered cars will be the end to all blind people," argument is getting stale.
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Randy C. 10:51AM (6/18/2008)
The problem with these conversions is that they are not an integral part of the car. The car itself wasn't designed with this application in mind. The plug-in conversion is tacked on and takes advantage of a loophole in the Prius design. If the car had been designed from the start to plug in the chance of an event like this will greatly reduced.
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Peter 12:08PM (6/18/2008)
"Now it turns out Toyota's chargers can set the Prius on fire like a laptop... This is rich..."
No, blaming Toyota for an after market hatchet job is what is rich.
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meme 1:06PM (6/18/2008)
I wonder if this is due to something similar to what caused the EV1 fire:
http://www.ka9q.net/ev/ev1fire.html
Due to the failure over time of a poorly designed capacitor in the charge port, the port would overheat while the vehicle charged. Burning material from the port dripped out and caught the plastic underbelly of the car on fire, gutting the vehicle.
Either way, this helps reinforce two key points:
1) Preventing shorts and accurate thermal monitoring are both critical.
2) A123 batteries are *darn tough* if they could survive the vehicle burning around them.
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David Wright 12:23PM (6/18/2008)
Have we reached the millionth gasoline car to catch fire yet? Or did everyone stop counting and shrugged their shoulders?
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Whopper 3:57PM (6/18/2008)
"Have we reached the millionth gasoline car to catch fire yet? Or did everyone stop counting and shrugged their shoulders?" Dumb statement! Compare the number of fires to the vehicle population.
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Mark 3:01PM (6/18/2008)
Big Oil sabatoge?
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Chris 4:37PM (6/18/2008)
There is a simple solution to this. Use lithium phosphate batteries. Check out Valence Technology, they make batteries for electric vehicles that do not burn.
Ticker: VLNC
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Altairian1 4:44PM (6/18/2008)
We need nanosafer Evs like Phoenix MC and Lightning GT with NANOSAFE battery packs from Altairnano inside. Li Titanate anodes are inherently safer.
EV2G.com
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meme 6:19PM (6/18/2008)
Chris: It *Is* using lithium phosphate batteries. Did you not read where they mentioned it was an A123 pack? Apparently you also missed where they said not only were the batteries not at fault, but where they stated that the pack was still useable after the fire.
The charger started the fire.
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Sam Abuelsamid 5:33PM (6/18/2008)
Chris, did you read the story? The battery does not appear to have been the cause of the fire. The battery was still functional. Also A123 cells are lithium iron phosphate
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EV-1 9:32AM (6/19/2008)
... testing needs to be done ...
"That's why it's taking almost four years from concept to production for the Volt and why Toyota is in no rush to bring the PHEV Prius to market."
- And we're supposed to believe that ** to be the whole story ?
Try laying in bed with oil conglomerates ( every reason to stall transition ) + developing selfdetructing tech forcing in-house maintainance/repair
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Felix Kramer 8:29AM (6/20/2008)
To read the response by Hybrids Plus and CalCars' perspective, see "Fire Incident Raises Conversion Safety Issues; Batteries Not Cause" at http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/963.html
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Mike Maguire 1:39PM (5/01/2009)
GM S10EVs have fire incidents, 2 last year as I remember. They were fleet vehicles to meet the one-time CARB zero emissions requirements relieved in April 2003. I think both cars were being charged when burned, at least both were parked and unoccupied.
We need electric vehicles and I too have been dissapointed with the length of the Volt development period. However they do complicate the design of the car, espicially as a hybrid. I rented a Toyota Highlander Hybrid and noticed the traction battery cooling ducts. It just proves that not only the battery is a fire source but now the cooling system has to be designed right too.
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